


<v 






♦♦^ 




v v 






y 



V el*,?- C> 4 




'• J°+ 












vv 
























%/ .- 



» • * **^ rv^ • ♦ • * ^ 






^°* 

















.1° ^. 
,6* .•■•. *o 






v >o T 






> ,0' 



"fey 



^••"•'.o* ...- •>«< •— , .ir.,...^-""*>\.- 






& %, ^ ^iflK # . ^^ ^ r * 



V > » 1 *^* *^ -a9 v - * 



*< 



















LP 












<> '^*T*' 1 ^ ^ 







.«!> .».., *^. 












o° ..i«^i-/ o 







LIFE AND LETTERS 



BARTHOLD GEORGE NIEBUHR. 



ESSAYS ON HIS CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE, 



THE CHEVALIER BUNSEN, 

& 
AND PROFESSORS BRANDTS AND LOJtBELL. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
389 & 331 PEARL STREET, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

185 4. 



DGrAK 

ITS* 






W 



PREFACE. 



No justification could be needed for offering to the En- 
glish public a life of Niebuhr, but it seems necessary to 
explain how far the present work can claim to be consid- 
ered as such. 

It is founded upon one entitled " Lebensnachrichten 
uber Barthold Greorg Niebuhr," which is chiefly composed 
of extracts from Niebuhr's letters ; though a short nar- 
rative, intended to explain these, and fill up the chasms 
they leave in his history, is prefixed to each of the periods 
into which it is divided. The principal editor of " Lebens- 
nachrichten" was Madame Hensler, Niebuhr's sister-in- 
law, to whom most of the letters are addressed, and who 
thus states the views with which she performed her task : 

. . . . " The reader will not need to be reminded that 
the extracts from the letters form the most important part 
of the work. 

"As I have already observed, these are not to be judged 
from the point of view which would be taken by an editor 
of Niebuhr's learned or general correspondence : such a 
one would have made a very different and a much more 
copious selection, and would probably, too, have followed 
critical rules which were beside the aim of the present 
work. This aim is simply biographical ; to communicate 
whatever can throw light upon his natural capacities and 



vi PREFACE. 

dispositions, his mental development, his studies, his mode 
of thought, his views of life, the State, art, and literature ; 
his relations as a citizen, a friend, and a member of the 
domestic circle ; his large and profound sympathies ;^ his 
keen sense of the noble and beautiful ; his zeal for justice 
and truth; and, not less, his faults and weaknesses, for 
these too, neither ought nor needed to be glossed over. 
Niebuhr was not so poor in great and amiable qualities, 
as to require an artificial light, in order to retain the es- 
teem of those whose esteem he would have valued ; and 
while his letters contain many beautiful traits which a 
regard to others forbids us to publish, they contain nothing 
which could have brought our friendship for him and our 
love of truth into collision. 

" Whether some of the letters retained might not have 
been omitted, and others inserted with advantage, is a 
point on which judgments will naturally differ 

" The greatest possible care has been taken to avoid 
any thing like indiscretion toward the living, or a profan- 
ation of feeling, which Niebuhr would have regarded as 
belonging to the inner sanctuary of the heart. Perhaps, 
in some cases, this scruple has been carried too far (for 
instance in omitting expressions of affection in the letters 
to his betrothed), and possibly too, some things may un- 
awares have been retained, in which one better acquainted 
with the circumstances may perceive allusions that escaped 
the selecter." 

I believe none who have paid attention to the subject, 
will deny, that the editor has, in the main, accomplished 
her purpose, and presented a picture of Niebuhr as a man, 
and in his private relations, which, in point of complete- 
ness and fairness, is excelled by few biographies ; but it 



PREFACE. vii 

is equally certain that the account of his public career is 
very incomplete, and by no means one that enables the 
reader to perceive the relation in which Niebuhr stood to 
his times. The biographical notices in the present work 
are shorter than Madame Hensler's narrative on which 
they are based, but they also comprise a considerable 
amount of additional- information, derived partly from 
other publications, partly from conversation with intimate 
friends of Niebuhr.* Several letters too have been added, 
throwing additional light on his public life. Thus, it is 
believed, that something has been done toward supplying 
the deficiency alluded to, though far less than still re- 
mains to be done. It was hoped that much more might 
have been effected, but Niebuhr's memorials and dispatches, 
as well as some valuable collections of his letters (espe- 
cially those to Yalckenaer and many of those to De Serre), 
still remain inaccessible to his friends. 

Of the letters given in the " Lebensnachrichten," about 
half have been translated. In the selection of these the 
aim has been, while omitting those which could be inter- 
esting only in Germany, and avoiding repetition, where it 
was possible, to maintain the relative proportions which 
their various topics assume in the original, and thus to 
reproduce with faithfulness, on a smaller scale, the por- 
trait there exhibited. Those who know the " Lebens- 
nachrichten" will probably regret that none of Niebuhr's 
letters on learned subjects have been inserted ; but it 
seemed desirable to confine this selection to those of 
general interest, and should the present work meet with 
a favorable reception, it is intended to publish, in another 

* Such information as helped to explain or illustrate the letters has been 
added in notes, in cases where it would have broken the thread of the nar- 
rative if inserted in the Introductory Notices. 



volume, the letters referred to, together with the most 
valuable portions of his smaller writings. 

In reading Niebuhr's letters, it must be remembered 
first, that they were hasty compositions addressed to his 
most intimate friends, and hence in giving them to the 
world, Madame Hensler has deemed it necessary frequent- 
ly to omit single sentences or expressions, which explains 
the somewhat abrupt and obscure style of many passages ; 
and secondly, with regard to his political sentiments, that 
it was necessary, in Grermany, to observe great caution 
in the publication of facts or opinions on such subjects ; 
and therefore these letters give no complete view of what 
he thought and felt, even on the passing events of the 
day : nevertheless it may be hoped that he will not be 
misunderstood in England, and that those who occupy 
themselves with political questions will lay his words to 
heart. 

In conclusion, the translator begs to express the warm- 
est acknowledgments to those friends of Mebuhr who 
have aided in the progress of this work, especially to His 
Excellency Chevalier Bunsen, without whose encourage- 
ment and assistance it would never have been undertaken, 
and to Professor Loebell, for his " Letter on Niebuhr's 
Character as an Historian," and to Professors Brandis and 
VVelcker, to the former of whom it has been indebted for 
most of the original information which it contains. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 

PAGB 

BIRTH. SKETCH OF HIS PARENTS AND NATIVE-PLACE. ILL-HEALTH. 

CHILDISH AMUSEMENTS AND STUDIES. THE BOJES. INTEREST IN 

POLITICS. ACQUAINTANCE WITH VOSS. EDUCATION. VISIT TO 

H-iMBURGH. STUDIES. LIST OF THE LANGUAGES HE KNEW 25 

CHAPTER II. 
COLLEGE LIFE. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF KIEL. FRIENDSHIPS FORMED THERE. DR. HENS- 

LER. MADAME HENSLER. LOVE OF THE CLASSICS 44 

LETTERS. 

1. To his Parents. — His Society at Kiel. — Hensler 46 

2. Grief at Fichte's Defense of Revolution 48 

3. The Study of Philosophy. — Geographical Questions. — Hypo- 

thesis respecting the earliest Colonization of Greece, &c. — 
The Origin of Races 48 

4. Books in Hand. — Separation from a Friend who denied Free- 

will 51 

5. Plans of Study 51 

6. The Same 51 

7. Mode of Life. — Philosophy.— Thibaut 52 

8. Introduction to Miss Behrens 53 

9. A learned Lady > . . • 53 

10. Good Resolutions 54 

11. His future Vocation. — Education 55 

12. Justification of his Refusal to go into Society 56 

13. Algernon Sidney. — Dictating History of the Revolution 56 

14. The Same 57 

EUT1N AND THE SOCIETY THERE. THE STOLBERGS. THE RE VENT- 
LOWS. JACOBI. MOLTKE 57 

A* 



x CONTENTS. 

LETTERS. 

PAGE 

15. To Moltke. — Corruption of the German Language by the Thirty- 

Years' War. — Voss. — Klopstock 60 

1 6. Relative Importance of Grammatical Studies. — Wolf. — Jacobi. 

— Becomes Private Secretary to Count Schimmelman. — Ac- 
quaintance with Amelia Behrens 61 

CHAPTER III. 
RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 

COUNT SCHIMMELMAN. LIFE AT HIS HOUSE. BECOMES SECRETARY 

AT THE ROYAL LIBRARY. PLANS FOR GOING TO PARIS 64 

LETTERS. 

17. To Madame Hensler. — Attachment to Miss Behrens 67 

18. To Moltke. — Announcing his Engagement 68 

19. Position and Prospects at Schimmelman's. — Grouvelle 71 

20. On Moltke's Marriage 72 

21. Low moral Tone of German Poets. — Decline of Literature . . 73 

22. To his Parents. — Progress in the Study of Persian. — Plan of 

going to Constantinople 74 

23. To Madame Hensler. — Schimmelman's plan for a Government 

Journal 76 

24. Requisites for a Professor of Philology 77 

25. Plans of future Life. — Attachment to Amelia Behrens 78 

26. Vindicating himself from the charge of idealizing his Friends 79 

27. Dangers of the Scholar's Life. — Mental Training of the An- 

cients 79 

28. Revolution of the 18th Fructidor 81 

29. To Amelia. — Anticipation of her Influence on his Character. . . 82 

30. Grouvelle. — Desaugiers. — Friendships with Foreigners .... 82 

31. To his Parents. — Political Apprehensions 83 

32. Offer of a Professorship 84 

33. Plans. — Studies in the Library 84 

34. To Amelia. — His Faults 85 

35. To his Father. — Society in Copenhagen. — Politics 85 

36. To Amelia. — Effect of Weather upon the Spirits 87 

37. To his Parents. — Souza. — Introductions in England 88 

38. Visit to Hamburgh 88 

extracts from his diaries. — VISIT TO holstein 89 

CHAPTER IV. 
JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 

JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. ACQUAINTANCE THERE. STUDIES IN EDIN- 
BURGH. RETURN TO DENMARK. RECEIVES AN APPOINTMENT IN 

COPENHAGEN 91 



CONTENTS. xi 
LETTERS. 

PAGE 

39. To Amelia. — The Journey , 95 

40. Russell. — Rennell. — Sir Joseph Banks. — Want of Genius 

among the English 95 

41. The Works of Art in London. — Schonbom 96 

42. The Sights of London 97 

43. Effect of the Changes of Nature upon the Mind. — English 

Political Writings 98 

44. The English Stage 100 

45. Visit to Pope's Garden 100 

46. To Moltke. — The Citizens, Scholars, and Young Men of En- 

gland. — Resolutions 100 

47. To Amelia. — Journey from London to Edinburgh 102 

48. The Same 103 

49. Opening Lectures at the University. — Robinson. — Hope. — 

Home. — Gregory. — Mode of Life 104 

50. Mr. Erancis Scott. — Studies. — Moorhouse 105 

51. An unpleasant Acquaintance. — The Scotts 107 

52. National Character. — Young Men. — Women. 108 

53. Want of Intimacy in English Friendships, and Neglect of the 

Training of Children 109 

54. His own Character 110 

55. The English Character. — Beautiful Influence of Physical 

Studies. — English Ideas of Germany Ill 

56. Study of Philosophy in England 113 

57. English Literature 113 

58. Characteristics of the Scotch .. 114 

59. Plans and Anticipations. — Taylor the Infidel 115 

60. Interesting People 116 

61 . The Study of the Natural Sciences. — Playfair 117 

62. English Reserve 117 

63. Visit to Dr. C , 118 

64. The Same 119 

65. Journey into the Highlands 120 

66. The Same. — A Scotch Farmer. — Sir John Murray 120 

67. Agricultural Class in Scotland 122 

68. Return to Copenhagen 122 

69. Good Resolutions 123 

70. Parents and Children. — Pecuniary Circumstances 123 



CHAPTER V. 

OFFICIAL LIFE IN COPENHAGEN. 

MARRIAGE AND SETTLEMENT IN COPENHAGEN. STOLBERG's CONVER- 
SION. BOMBARDMENT OF COPENHAGEN. STUDY OF ARABIC. FRESH 

APPOINTMENTS. RECEIVES PROPOSALS FROM PRUSSIA. CONSENTS 

TO GO THERE ,,........,.,,. ..... 124 



xii CONTENTS. 

LETTERS. 

PAGE 

71. To Madame Hensler. — Stolberg's Conversion. — Modern Protest- 

antism 132 

72. Nelson's Arrival 133 

73. State of Public Affairs. — Schimmelman 134 

74. The Same 135 

75. The Bombardment 135 

76. State of the City 137 

77. Truce. — Loss of the English 138 

78. To Moltke. — On the Death of his first Wife 138 

79. To his Parents. — Study of Arabic. — State of the Jews under 

the Macedonian Rule 139 

80. To Moltke. — Present Mode of Life. — Study of Roman History. 

— Moltke's Visit to Italy. — Public Affairs. — Carnot 140 

81. Love of Paintings. — Style of Ancient Authors. — Livy. — Ci- 

cero. — Demosthenes. — Thucydides 142 

82. Melancholy Issue of the War. — Mournful Anticipations re- 

specting Germany 144 

83. To his Parent's. — Departure from Copenhagen 145 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 

ARRIVAL IN BERLIN. DEFEATS OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. FLIGHT TO 

memel. . 147 

LETTERS. 

84. To his Parents. — Consoling them under the present Calamities 147 

85. To Madame Hensler. — Proceedings in Konigsberg 149 

86. State of Public Affairs. — Intrigues 150 

87. To Stein. — On Stein's Dismissal from Office 150 

PROPOSALS FROM OTHER STATES. TAKES AN APPOINTMENT IN THE 

COMMISSARIAT DEPARTMENT. VON SCHORN. HARDENBERG. PRIME 

MINISTER. FLIGHT TO RIGA. PROVISIONAL COMMISSION. OFFER 

FROM KLEIN. STEIN's RETURN TO OFFICE 152 

LETTERS. 

88. To Stein. — Stein's dismissal. — Public Affairs. — Lord Hutchinson 156 

89. Proposals from Russia 157 

90. To his Wife. — Journey to Bartenstein 158 

91 . Mournful Aspect of Affairs ][ 1 58 

92. The Same — -Bennigsen " * ' . 159 

93. Negotiations with Hutchinson. — Health 159 

94. Negotiations with the Russians.— Loss of Literary Leisure . . 160 



CONTENTS. xiii 

PAGE 

95. To Stein. — Stein's Return to Office. — Dislike to Division of Re- 

sponsibility in Administration. — Slavonic Literature. ... 161 

96. To Madame Hensler. — Retrospect. — Justifying himself for 

learning new Languages 1 63 

PROVISIONAL COMMISSION. STEIN SENDS HIM TO NEGOTIATE DUTCH 

LOAN. UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS. VALCKENAER UNDERTAKES IT. 

STEIVS PROSCRIPTION. ALTENSTEIN, MINISTER. APPOINTMENT AS 

MANAGER OF THE NATIONAL DEBT. DUTCH LOAN. HARDENBERG, 

MINISTER. REFUSES TO ACT WITH HIM. APPOINTED HISTORIO- 
GRAPHER 165 

LETTERS. 

97. To Madame Hensler. — Journey from Memel to Landsberg. . . 172 

98. Meeting with his Father 175 

99. Thankfulness for the Blessings of the past Year 175 

100. To Moltke. — Different Kinds of Friendships. — Reminiscences. 

— Sismondi's Italian Republics. — Circular Letters. — 
Yondel 176 

101. To Madame Hensler. — Sorrow for Denmark 178 

102. Rmg Louis Napoleon 178 

103. Influence of the Mind on Bodily Health. — Objects to be 

aimed at in Charitable Institutions 179 

104. To Moltke. — On the Death of his second Wife 180 

105. To Madame Hensler. — Political Anxieties. — Countess Moltke. 181 

106. Moltke. — Stem's Fall. — His Character. — Approaching Crisis 182 

107. To Moltke. — Consolation under Trial. — His own Future .... 183 

108. Dislike of Medical Men. — Mirabeau's "'Essai sur le Despot- 

isme." — Necker. — Carnot 185 

109. To Madame Hensler. — Intercourse. — Faith. — Stein 187 

110. Stein's Proscription. — Political Doctrines at the Present 

Conjuncture 188 

111. To Moltke. — Stein's Character. — Altenstein. — Retirement 

from Public Life. — Massillon's Writings. — Schiller's 
Thirty Years' War 189 

112. To Madame Hensler. — Yalckenaer. — Dutch Poets 191 

113. Yisit to his Father. — Reflections on Political Events. — Ma- 

jorian 192 

114. Grief at the late Events. — Schill . 193 

115. The same 194 

116. Stay at Nutschau. — Early Intercourse between Greece and 

Rome. — Mirabeau on Finance. — Baader 195 

117. Successes of the Tyrolese. — Yillers 197 

118. Journey to Konigsberg. — Ravages of War. — Stein 198 

119. State of Political Feeling. — Schelling. — Benvenuto Cellini. 

— Davy's Discoveries 200 

120. Official Appointments. — Plans 202 

121. To his Father. — Finance. — Occupations 203 

122. To Madame Hensler. — Advantages of unrestricted Commerce 205 



xiv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

123. Dissatisfaction with the Ministry Regret at the Sacrifice 

of Learned Pursuits 205 

124. Hardenberg. — Intrigues 206 

125. To his Father. — Study of Arabic 207 

126. To Madame Hensler. — Opposition to intended Financial Meas- 

ures 207 

127. To Moltke. — Account of Proceedings. — Free Trade. — New 

Books i 20S 

128. To his Father. — Salt's Expedition. — Condition of the Abys- 

sinians. — Prospects of England 209 

CHAPTER VII. 

PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 

RETURN TO A LITERARY VOCATION. PLANS OF STUDY. EXTRAORDIN- 
ARY MEMORY. CHARACTERISTICS. OPENING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

LECTURES ON ROMAN HISTORY. SAVIGNy's ACCOUNT OF THEM. 

INTERCOURSE. BEGINS THE HISTORY OF ROME. VISIT TO HOL- 

STEIN. LITERARY LABORS. FRENCH INVASION OF RUSSIA. WISHES 

TO ENTER THE ARMY. ESTABLISHMENT OF " THE PRUSSIAN CORRE- 
SPONDENT" 210 

LETTERS. 

129. To Madame Hensler. — Goethe 219 

130. Savigny. — Pamphlets of the 17th Century 219 

131. Effect of his opening Lecture 220 

132. Early Civilization of Western Europe 221 

133. Account of his Occupations 221 

134. The Existence of pure Disinterestedness. — Goethe's Theo- 

logical Essay 222 

135. The Danes. — History of Rome 224 

136. De Serre 225 

137. Detention of Letters. — Aspect of Public Affairs. — Impres- 

sions received from Museum of Natural History 225 

138. Goethe's " Dichtung und Wahrheit." — Madame de Stael. . 226 

139. The Same. — Mode of Life 227 

140. Schleiermacher's Views of the Ancient Philosophers 227 

LETTERS FROM GOETHE TO NIEBUHR ON RECEIVING THE FIRST VOLUME 

OF THE HISTORY OF ROME 228 

141. To Madame Hensler. — Episodes in History 230 

142. Inequality of Style no Fault 230 

143. Johannes Muller 231 

144. State of Public Affairs 231 

145. Wilhelm Meister. — Goethe's Mental History.— Animal Mag- 

netism 232 

146. State of Public Affairs 233 

147. The Same. — Klopstock and his Times 234 



CONTENTS. xv 

PAGE 

148. To V * *. — On Religion. — Our Mental History. — Rationalism. 

— Mysticism. — Catholicism. — The Future of the Church. 235 

149. To Moltke. — Society in Berlin. — Reception of his History. — 

Ideal of Historical Writing 239 

150. To Madame Hensler. — The aim of Wilhelm Meister. — Oersted. 241 

151. Reviewing.— Plato 241 

152. EtTects of War. — Antique Works in Glass 242 

153. To Perthes. — On the Birth of a Son. — Decline of Art after 

Raphael. — English Policy 243 

154. To Jacobi. — History of his own Intellectual Development. . . . 244 

LETTERS FROM GOETHE TO NIEBUHR ON RECEIVING THE SECOND VOL- 
UME OF THE HISTORY OF ROME 247 

155. To Madame Hensler. — Herder. — Public Health 249 

156. To Perthes. — Studies in old German. — Goethe's Autobiogra- 

phy. — Julian 250 

157. To Madame Hensler. — State of Public Affairs 251 

158. The same. — Return of the French from Russia 251 

159. The same 253 

160. State of General Enthusiasm 253 

161. To Perthes. — Neander's "Julian." — Goethe and the Catholic 

Sacrament 253 

162. To Madame Hensler. — The War of Liberation 254 

163. Training for the Army. — Instances of Patriotism. — General 

York 255 

164. To Perthes. — Political Anticipations. — Arndt's "Landwehror 

Landsturm" 257 

165. To Madame Hensler — Wish to join the Army 257 

CHAPTER VIII. 
RETURN TO PUBLIC LIFE. 

EMPLOYED IN CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL. NEGOTIATIONS 

WITH ENGLAND. ILLNESS IN PRAGUE. RELATIONS WITH STEIN. 

MISSION TO HOLLAND. VISIT TO HOLSTEIN. THE RIGHTS OF PRUSSIA. 

ILLNESS OF HIS WIFE. DEATH OF HIS FATHER 259 

LETTERS. 

166. To Madame Hensler. — Employments. — State of Public Affairs 262 

167. Retreat after the Battle of Bautzen 263 

168. Heroism of the Prussians. — Journey to Reichenbach 266 

169. To the Princess Louisa. — Mournful Aspect of Affairs. — Rela- 

tions with Stein. — Hardenberg 267 

170. To Madame Hensler. — Stay at Pueichenbach. — Proposed Mis- 

sion to England 269 

171. To Perthes. — Condition and Prospects of Hamburgh. — Prus- 

sian- Soldiers : 270 



xvi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

172. To Madame Hensler. — Fears for Holstein. — Noble Spirit of 

the Nation 272 

173. Conditions of the Peace. — Madame de Stael 273 

174. Stay in Amsterdam. — Defeats of the Allies. — Character of 

the Dutch 274 

175. The War in France 276 

176. Prospects of France 277 

177. Behavior of the Russian Troops in France. — Prospects of the 

Bourbons 278 

178. Selfishness of the Dutch 279 

179. French Literature 280 

180. Aspect of Holland after the War 280 

181. To Perthes. — Evil of French Influence 281 

182. Essentials to a Reform of the Church 282 

183. To Madame Hensler. — Lessons to Crown Prince. — Aspect of 

Berlin. — Relations with France 282 

184. Aspect of Europe. — Lessons to Crown Prince. — Hume and 

Gibbon 283 

185. State of the new Prussian Provinces. — Italy 284 

186. Style and Punctuation. — England in the Middle Ages .... 284 

187. Congress of Vienna 285 

188. Society in Berlin. — Illness of his Wife 286 

189. Animal Magnetism. — Apprehensions about the War 286 

190. On the Death of his Father 287 



CHAPTER IX. 
RESIDENCE IN BERLIN UP TO JULY, 1816. 

DEATH OF HIS WIFE. APPOINTMENT AS EMBASSADOR TO ROME. 

STUDIES AND WRITINGS. VISIT OF MADAME HENSLER. SECOND 

MARRIAGE 289 

LETTERS. 

191. To Madame Hensler. — His Bereavement. — Journey Home . . 292 

192. State of Mind 293 

193. Plans of Employment in Rome. — Heyne 294 

194. Resolutions. — Heindorf. — Belief of his Vocation to States- 

manship 295 

195. To Perthes. — Mission to Rome 296 

.196. To Brandis. — His Loss. — Attachment to Prussia. — Anticipa- 
tions 297 

197. To Madame Hensler. — His own dangerous Illness 298 

198. Funeral of his Wife 299 

199. Measures for the Reform of the Catholic Church. — Own 

Character 299 

200. Pleasure at her Consent to accompany him to Rome. — De- 

cline of Literature 300 

201. Appointment as Royal Commissioner. — Servian Poetry ... 301 



CONTENTS. xvii 

PAGE 

202. The Same 302 

203. The Limitation of the Will 302 

204. Fronto. — 111 Health 303 

205. Fronto. — Marcus Antoninus 304 

206. The Plague in Italy 304 

207. The Same 304 

208. Heindorf. — The Journey 305 

209. The Same 305 

210. Departure from Berlin 306 

CHAPTER X. 

MISSION IN ROME. 

JOURNEY. DISCOVERY OF THE INSTITUTES OF GAIL'S. RESEARCHES 

AND DISCOVERIES IN THE VATICAN. POLITICAL RELATIONS INTER- 
COURSE. THE GERMAN ARTISTS 307 

LETTERS. 

210. To Madame Hensler. — Account of the Journey from Ratisbon 

to Munich. — Warzburg Cathedral and MSS. — Nuremberg. 

— Ratisbon 309 

211. To Nicolovius. — Feelings on leaving Germany. — Jacobi. — Sail- 

er. — The Catholic Church 313 

212. To Madame Hensler. — The Tyrol. — lnnspruck. — Hofer. — 

Speckbacher 315 

account of his visit to speckbacher 317 

213. To Savigny. — Discovery of the Institutes of Gaius at Verona. . 319 

214. To Madame Hensler. — The higher Classes, and Scholars of 

Italy.— Antiquities.— Ill-health of his Wife. — The Old 
Masters 321 

215. Arrival at Rome. — Aspect of the City. — Misery of the People 324 

216. To Savigny. — Mode of Life. — Aspect of Rome. — Works of Art. 

— Terni 325 

217. To Madame Hensler. — Society in Rome. — Absence of his 

Books 328 

218. Brandis. — Fragments of Cicero 329 

219. On continuing the History of Rome 329 

220. Impressions of Rome. — German Artists. — Mode of Life . . . 330 



1817. 
reviews of his history. — birth of a son. — dangerous illness. 

BEKEER 332 

LETTERS. 

221. To Madame Hensler. — Reminiscences. — Pain of being in a 

Foreign Land. — Italian Language 333 



xvni CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

222. To Jacobi. — Catholicism. — Goethe's Life 334 

223. To Madame Hensler. — On Education. — Brandis 335 

224. To Nicolovius. — The Climate and Condition of Rome 336 

225. To Madame Hensler. — State of the Romans. — Literary La- 

bors 339 

226. To Savigny. — Modern Legislation. — Goethe's Life. — The Ger- 

man Artists. — Goethe's Views of Art. — Description of 

Niebuhr's House 341 

227. To Madame Hensler. — Reminiscences 348 

228. Birth of his Son 349 

229. Education 349 

230. Baptism of his Son - 349 

231. Reminiscences. — Faith. — Catholicism 350 

232. The Poor and Pauperism 352 

233. His own dangerous Illness 353 

234. Bekker 354 

235. Health of Rome. — Studies. — Political Demonstrations .... 354 

236. To Savigny. — Josephus 355 



1818. 

POLITICAL COMMOTIONS IN FRANCE AND GERMANY. BIRTH OF HIS 

ELDEST DAUGHTER. APPOINTMENT OF A CLERGYMAN TO THE EM- 
BASSY 356 

LETTERS. 

237. To Madame Hensler. — The State of Public Affairs 358 

238. Reminiscences. — Harms's Theses. — Creeds and Tests of 

Faith 359 

239. Political and Ecclesiastical Affairs 361 

240. Bunsen. — Brandis. — Animal Magnetism. — Spirit of Cathol- 

icism 361 

241. The Weather.— Harms's Theses. — Essentials of Christianity 362 

242. Proselytizing Efforts of the Catholics.— Cornelius 364 

243. To Nicolovius. — Church Reform 364 

244. To Savigny.— Efforts of the Catholics.— Edition of Gaius. — 

Bavarian Constitution. — Political Movements. — Gorres . 365 

245. To Jacobi. — The Weather. — Moral and Social Condition of the 

Romans. — Dearth of Intellectual Intercourse. — The Ba- 
varian Constitution 366 

246. To Savigny. — Health of his Family. — His Son. — Education. 

— Governing. — Landed Property in Italy 370 

247- To Madame Hensler. — The religious Education of his Son. — 

Italian Banditti 372 

248. To Savigny. — Genzano. — Religion of the Ancient Romans. — 

Unfriendly Feeling toward Prussia 373 

249. To Madame Hensler. — Seeker. — Sarpi 374 



CONTENTS. yix 
1819. 

PAGE 

ESSAY ON THE ARMENIAN EUSEBIUS. FRAGMENTS OF LIVY 375 

LETTERS. 

250. To Madame Hensler. — On leaving Italy — Kotzebue's Mur- 

der ' 376 

251. Tivoli. — Agricultural Population of Italy 377 

252. To Nicolovius. — Gratification at the Appointment of a Chap- 

lain to the Embassy 378 

253. To Madame Hensler. — The Armenian Eusebius. — Schmieder. 379 

254. Political Movements in Prussia 380 

255. The Same. — On Removing to Germany. — Schmieder 381 

256. Representative Institutions 383 

257. Arrival of his Instructions. — The Catholic Reforming Party 384 

258. His Children.— The Carlsbad Decrees 384 



1820. 

NEGOTIATIONS. REVOLUTION IN NAPLES. BIRTH OF A SECOND DAUGH- 
TER. LITERARY DISPUTES 385 

LETTERS. 

259. To Madame Hensler. — Illness of his Wife. — Political Senti- 

ments 387 

260. Influence of Climate on the Intellect. — Negotiations for 

Geneva. — Politics 387 

261. Detention of Letters. — On Leaving Italy. — Duty of Gov- 

ernors 388 

262. Desirableness of forming a Gentry. — State of Spain. — Pros- 

pects of Europe 390 

263. Disposition and Education of his Son. — Spanish Constitu- 

tion and National Character 391 

264. Development of his own Character. — Spain. — De Serre. . . . 393 

265. Revolution in Naples. — Sicily. — The Plague 394 

266. His Children.— The Carbonari 396 

267. Affairs in Naples. — Leanings toward Catholicism. — Duties 

of Parents 397 

268. Apprehensions of Revolt. — Sicily. — Stein - 399 

269. Measures of the Neapolitan and Spanish Parliaments. — 

Continuation of his History. — Plato 400 

270. Events in Naples 402 



1821. 

AUSTRIAN INTERVENTION IN NAPLES. CONCLUSION OF NEGOTIATIONS 

WITH THE PAPAL COURT. LITERARY LABORS 402 



xx CONTENTS. 

LETTERS. 

PAGE 

271. To Madame Hensler. — Public Events. — Stein. — Peyron .... 403 

272. The War in Naples. — Revolution in Piedmont. — Arrival of 

Hardenberg 404 

273. To Nicolovius. — Conclusion of the Negotiations with Rome. . 406 

274. To Madame Hensler. — The Same. — Stein 407 

275. Insurrection in Piedmont 408 

276. Lord Colchester. — The Countess of Albany 409 

277. His Daughter. — Efforts for Greek Independence 409 

278. The Same 410 

279. To Nicolovius. — Hamann. — Pietism. — Biography. — Power of 

the Historian 411 

280. To Madame Hensler. — Hamann. — Essentials of Christianity. 412 

281. Life in Ptome Hamann 414 



1822. 

BIRTH OF HIS THIRD DAUGHTER. REQUESTS HIS RECALL. VIEWS OF 

PHILOLOGY. VISIT OF THE KING 414 

LETTERS. 

282. To Madame Hensler. — Views with Regard to his Son 416 

283. Lieber.— Greek Soldiers 417 

284. To Savigny. — Savigny's History of Jurisprudence. — State of 

Italy in the Middle Ages. — Cicero's Views of the Consti- 
tution of Rome 418 

285. To Madame Hensler. — De Serre. — Lieber 420 

286. The Same. — Intercourse 421 

287. To De Serre. — Pertz. — Veneration for De Serre 421 

288. To a Young Philologist. — On the high Character of his Vo- 

cation, and the right Method of pursuing Philological 
Studies 423 



1823. 

VISIT TO NAPLES. DEPARTURE FROM ROME. JOURNEY TO BONN. . . . 430 

LETTERS. 

289. To Moltke. — Reminiscences. — Position in Rome. — Marcus. — 

De Serre 430 

290. To De Serre. — On the Policy of England. — Canning. — Lessing. 

— Proposed Essay on Roman History. — Varchi 432 

291. Animal Magnetism. — Politics 434 

292. To Madame Hensler. — Stay at Naples. — Marcus. — MSS. — 

Climate 435 

293. De Serre 436 



CONTENTS xxi 

PAGE 

294. To De Serre. — Financial Condition of England. — Affinities 

between Physical and Moral World 437 

295. English Finance '. 439 

296- Sentiments toward De Serre 440 

•297 . Spanish Politics 441 

298. To Madame Hensler. — Visit to his old Honse at Rome. — His 

Son. — Feelings at Leaving Italy 442 

299. To De Serre. — Journey to Florence. — Hannibal's Route. — 

Florence. — Italian Literature. — Spain. — Fluctuations of 
Population 443 

300. To Madame Hensler. — Character of the Tyrolese 446 

301. To De Serre. — Literary Labors. — Condition of Switzerland. — 

Ireland.— Chili 448 

302. Heidelberg.— Thibaut.— Voss.— Spam 449 

303. To Madame Hensler. — Tyrolese Scenery. — Thibaut. — Voss. — 

Schlosser 450 



CHAPTER XI. 
RESIDENCE IN BONN. 

CONTROVERSY WITH STEINACKER. VISIT TO BERLIN. LOSS OF HIS 

YOUNGEST CHILD. SETTLEMENT IN BONN 452 

LETTERS. 

304. To Madame Hensler. — Party Spirit in Germany. — Steinacker's 

Attack. — Visit tn Stein 454 

305. To De Serre. — Steinacker's Pamphlet. — Resolve to continue 

the History of Rome 454 

306. To Madame Hensler. — Cologne. — Rhenish Prussia. — Spam. . 455 

307. Party Spirit. — representative Institutions. — Centralization. 

— The Gymnastic Regime. — Stein 457 

308. Learning by Rote. — Mental Training of Children 459 

309. To De Serre. — Spanish America. — The West Indies. — Cham- 

bers. — The Formation of an Aristocracy. — Divisibility of 
Land. — Rhenish Prussia. — State of Literature 460 

310. Good Wishes. — French Funds 464 

311 . To Madame Niebuhr. — Arrival in Berlin 464 

312. The Crown Prince. — Old Friends. — On Returning to Berlin. 465 

313. Retrospect. — On Pteturning to Rome 465 

314. To Madame Hensler. — Reminiscences 466 

315. To Madame Niebuhr. — Illness of the Children 467 

316. To De Serre. — His own Position and Prospects. — Investiga- 

tions respecting the Burschenschafts. — Social Condition 

of Prussia 467 

317. To Madame Niebuhr. — Death of his Child 470 

318. To Madame Hensler. — Death of De Serre 471 

319. Public Business. — Society 471 



xxii CONTENTS. 

PAGK 

320. To Madame Niebuhr. — Waagen's History of Art 472 

321 . The Bank Scheme , 472 

322. The Same. — Stein. — Champollion's Discoveries 473 

323. Arrival of his Goods. — Public Business 474 

324. The Same 474 

325. Translations of his History. — Accused of Radicalism 475 

326. Disposal of his Salary 475 

327. Plans for Life in Bonn 475 

328. Vincke. — Cicero on Friendships 476 

329. Retirement from Public Life. — Cousin's Views of Christi- 

anity 477 

330. His Garden. — Health 478 

331. Lieber 478 

332. Letter to the King 479 



1825-1831. 

NIEBUHR's SETTLEMENT IN BONN. LIST OF HIS LECTURES. INTER- 
COURSE IN BONN. MODE OF LIFE. CONTINUATION OF HIS HISTORY 

OF ROME. INTEREST IN THE STRUGGLES OF THE GREEKS. EDITION 

OF THE BYZANTINE HISTORIANS. VISIT TO HOLSTEIN. HIS HOUSE 

BURNT DOWN. THE REVOLUTION OF JULY. ILLNESS AND DEATH. 

DEATH OF MADAME NIEBUHR 479 

LETTERS. 

333. To Madame Hensler. — His Lectures. — Repose of the Political 

World 489 

334. His Lectures. — Classen. — The University 490 

335. His History of Rome 491 

336. To Perthes. — Importance of the History of Commerce. — The 

Political World 491 

337. To Madame Hensler. — Students m Bonn 492 

338. Death and Character of Voss. — A Catholic Leauge. — Elber- 

feldt 493 

339. Missolonghi. — Designs of the Catholics. . , 494 

340. Reception of his History. — State of France. — The Greek 

Struggle 495 

341. Pleasant Plans and Anticipations. — Jacobi and Goethe. — 

Grief at the Fate of Missolonghi 496 

342. To Savigny. — On his Journey to Italy. — The History of Rome. 497 

343. To Perthes. — Aims of the Catholics 498 

344. To Madame Hensler.— Stein.— The Oligarchy 498 

345. Excursion to Treves. — Arrangement of his Papers. — Letter 

from Goethe 499 

LETTER FROM GOETHE TO NIEBUHR 500 

346. To Savigny. — Second Edition of his History. — Edition of the 

Byzantine Historians 501 



CONTENTS. xxiii 

PAGK 

347. To Madame Hensler. — Future of England. — Prosperity in 

Prussia. — Goethe's Helena 502 

348. To Sayign-y. — The Byzantine Historians 503 

349. To Madame Hensler. — Style of his History , 504 

350. The Same. — Apprehensions of Political Commotions 504 

351. The Same 506 

352. The Same. — Greece 506 

353. The Same. — Danger of a Revolution in France. — Hare and 

Thirlwall's Translation. — Faults of England 507 

354. To Madame Niebuhr. — Nenndorf. — Rehberg 509 

355. Effect of the Spring. — Health 509 

356. Visit to Copenhagen. — Schimmelman 510 

357. To Savigny. — Homoeopathy. — Mode of Life 510 

358. To Madame Hensler. — The true Citizen. — Literature 511 

359. Feeling toward England 512 

360. His new House. — Goethe's Correspondence with Schiller . . 512 

361. Review in the Quarterly. — Ranke's History of Servia. — 

Lectures on the French Revolution 513 

362. The Catholics. — Rhenish Prussia 514 

363. Political Anxieties 515 

364. His Catholic Hearers. — Modern French Literature. — St. 

Hilaire. — Society in England. — Bourrienne's Memoirs . . 515 

365. His own historical Achievements 517 

366. To Savigny. — The Fire in his House. — Hermann. — Goethe's 

Correspondence with Schiller. — Character of Schiller. ... 517 

367. To Madame Hensler. — The Revolution of July. — His History. 

— Review of it by Villemain , 519 

368. Own State of Mind. — Fear of a War with the French. — 

Improvement in that Nation 521 

369. Fear of Revolutions in Germany. — Prophecies of the Fu- 

ture. — Difference between this Revolution and the Former 

one 522 

3/0. To Savtrw. — Apprehensions of the Loss of free Institutions 

and Introduction of Despotism 525 

To Madame Hensler. — Royalist Principles. — Nature of the 
present Political Disease. — Lawful Revolutions. — Consti- 
tutional Forms 525 

371. To Moltke. — Mirabeau. — Idolatry of Property. — Comparison 

with the Age of Augustus. — Prophecies of the Future . . 527 

372. To Perthes. — His Preface to the First Philippic. — Thirlwall's 

History of Greece. — Conduct of the Germans 529 

373. To Madame Hensler. — The Administration of Justice. — New 

Codes. — Preface to his History. — Degeneracy of the Ger- 
man Nation. — Future of Germany. — Designs of the 
French 529 

ESSAY ON THE CHARACTER OF NIEBLHR, BY PROFESSOR BRAND1S 532 

ESSAY' ON NIEBXTHR AS AN HISTORIAN, BY PROFESSOR LOEBELL 538 

ESSAY ON NIEBTTHR AS A DIPLOMATIST, BY THE CHEVALIER BUNSEN . . . 544 



MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 



CHAPTER I. 

NIEBUHR'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, FROM 1776 TO 1794. 

Barthold George Niebuhr, the historian of Rome, was born 
at Copenhagen, on the 27th of August, 1776. He was the son 
of Carsten Niebuhr, the celebrated traveler. His family, for as 
many generations as any tiling is known respecting it, had been 
settled in Hadel, the northwestern province of Hanover, where 
they occupied a small freehold that had descended from father 
to son. 

Carsten Niebuhr, being a younger son, had not inherited the 
family farmstead, and as his ardent love of knowledge prompted 
him to seek some occupation which would atford more scope for 
its gratification than the agricultural operations that filled up 
the life of the peasants around him, he determined to become a 
land-surveyor. For this purpose he applied the small capital 
which his father had left him, to his support while studying 
under private tutors at Hamburgh, where he acquired the rudi- 
ments of a learned education, and afterward at the University 
of Gottingen. When in 1757, the Danish government resolved 
to send an expedition of discovery to the East, Niebuhr was rec- 
ommended by his tutor, Professor Kiistner, one of the most dis- 
tinguished German mathematicians of that day, to Count Bern- 
storfF, who had applied to him for a person competent to conduct 
the geographical portion of the researches. After two years spent 
in preparatory studies, he received the rank of a lieutenant in 
the engineers, and in the autumn of 1760, set out on his travels 
with four companions, who each undertook a separate department 
of scientific research. 

The difficulties and privations of the journey through Arabia, 
in 1763. proved so excessive that all Niebuhr's fellow-travelers 
B 



26 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

sank under them within a year, and he was left to pursue the 
journey alone. He not only resolved to do so, but endeavored 
to supply, as far as he was qualified, the place of his fellow-dis- 
coverers. 

From this journey he returned to Copenhagen in 1767, after 
an absence of six years. Here he employed himself in revising 
his journals, and those of his fellow-traveler Forskaal, for publi- 
cation. 

He was on the point of undertaking a journey into the interior 
of Africa, when he fell in love with a young orphan lady, the 
daughter of the late physician to the King of Denmark. Though 
he had reached his fortieth year, this was the first love he had 
ever experienced, and its sincerity and depth maj be judged of 
by the fact of his abandoning all the plans he had formed for 
his future life, and, instead of continuing the adventurous career 
which till then had alone possessed any charms for him, resolv- 
ing to settle down quietly in Copenhagen. He married in 1773, 
and had two children by his wife — a daughter, Christiana, born 
Jn 1774, and his son Barthold. 

His position in Copenhagen became far less agreeable after the 
fall of his patron, Count BernstorfF, to whom he was personally 
much attached, and at length he requested his discharge from 
the military service, and an appointment of a civil nature in 
Holstein. He was accordingly made secretary^ to the province 
of South Dithmarsh, and removed with his family to Meldorf, its 
chief town, in 1778. 

The province of Dithmarsh, formerly a republic, and celebrated 
for its defense of its freedom, still retained certain privileges, and 
a free and independent communal constitution peculiar to itself. 
The inhabitants were of the same Frisian race as those of Carsten, 
3S"iebuhr's native province ; were a free peasantry like them, each 
man occupying and cultivating his own little freehold, and pos- 
sessed the industry, frugality, and sturdy independence which 
usually characterize their order. The circumstance that his 
childhood and youth were passed among such a population, prob- 
ably contributed to the strong interest and sympathy with whicli 
Niebuhr always regarded this class. Frequent references occur 
in his letters to the peculiar institutions of these districts, and his 
practical acquaintance with them was often brought to bear upon 

* Land-schreibev. 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 27 

his researches into the political and civil organization of other, 
countries, ancient as well as modern. 

The external features of the country were not at all pictur- 
esque. Marshes extended over the greater portion of its surface, 
which was neither diversified by trees nor rising ground. Mel- 
dorf itself was a little antiquated country town, that had for- 
merly been of much greater importance as the capital of the re- 
public, but had sunk into decay through the ravages occasioned 
by repeated sieges ; and its remoteness from any high road pre- 
vented an influx of trade, which might have revived its pros- 
perity. Many of the old-fashioned houses were now unoccupied, 
and the quiet of the place was rarely broken by the carriage- 
wheels of a passing traveler, for it had no visitors but such as 
were drawn thither by some personal interest. 

The want of any natural beauty in the scene of his early 
life rendered Niebuhr long insensible to impressions from this 
source. Thus, writing from Edinburgh in 1798, he says, that 
Nature has denied him the taste for picturesque scenery, but 
given him instead a perception of the sublime. In later years, 
however, he was keenly sensible to the charms of a beautiful 
landscape. 

It will be readily conceived that Meldorf was, in many re- 
spects, an unfavorable position for Carsten Niebuhr, whose pre- 
vious life had been passed, almost ever since he had been grown 
up, in the excitement of traveling through previously unexplored 
eastern regions, or amidst the society of the scholars and states- 
men of Copenhagen. The fame of the celebrated traveler oc- 
casionally attracted a stranger, and many friends came to visit 
him ; but sometimes for months together he saw no one beside 
the inhabitants of the little town. Of these the clergy and offi- 
cials of the place formed the circle with which the family as- 
sociated. Among them there were few — and for a long while 
perhaps none — who had any taste for intellectual pursuits except 
so far as they were connected with their peculiar vocation. Car- 
sten Niebuhr, however, employed himself in a most conscientious 
discharge of the duties of his office, and occupied his spare hours 
in building himself a house and laying out a garden, from which 
he then scarcely expected he should live to gather the fruit, but 
most of whose trees he long survived. Moreover, though accus- 
tomed to mix with the highest classes, he had never lost his fel- 



28 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

low feeling with the peasantry to whom he belonged by birth, 
and when among Ins relations, whom he loved to visit, he could 
completely accommodate himself to their habits and enter into 
their modes of thinking. His son says of him, " He was and re- 
mained throughout his life a genuine peasant ; with all the vir- 
tues and also the little failings of his order. He was certainly 
self-willed and obstinate ; it was almost impossible to talk him 
out of any idea he had once taken up. This held good, too, of 
his favorable or unfavorable prepossessions with regard to persons. 
His character was perfectly irreproachable, and his morals ex- 
tremely strict and pure. He was in all relations of life unexact- 
ing and self-sacrificing." 

Of Niebuhr's mother there exist very few notices. From the 
circle in which she was brought up, she was, in all probability, a 
woman of education and refinement. She is described as having 
been of a nervous, sensitive temperament, probably in great meas- 
ure the effect of her very delicate health ; as excitable and warm- 
tempered, but at the same time easily pacified, affectionate, and 
tender. Her son is said to have resembled her much in person 
as well as in character. 

An unmarried sister lived with her, with whom she usually 
spoke Danish, so that the children learnt both that and German 
as their native languages. 

The parents, especially the father, seem to have devoted them- 
selves to the training and education of their children with an at- 
tention rarely seen ; but the frequent indisposition of Madame 
Niebuhr, with whom the air of the marshes did not agree, and 
his own ill-health, occasioned many interruptions to the otherwise 
happy tenor of her son's childhood. The boy had been very strong 
up to his fifth year, but he then had a dangerous attack of ague, 
which seemed quite to alter his constitution, for it became and re- 
mained through life very irritable, and highly susceptible both to 
mental and atmospheric influences. He had also several severe ill- 
nesses and accidents in his childhood. One of the latter was a bite 
from a dog, which obliged him to submit to very painful treat- 
ment ; and all these circumstances contributed to increase his con- 
stitutional nervousness and timidity. Indisposition often rendered 
it needful for him to be kept within doors, and his mother's anxiety, 
which was heightened by her own delicate health, often unnec- 
essarily prolonged these periods of privation from air and exercise. 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 29 

On the whole, however, he and his sister led a very merry life, 
romping about with their playfellows in a spacious house, or in 
large court-yards and gardens. AYhen Niebuhr was about five 
years old, he took great delight in watching the erection of his 
father's house at Meldorf. The elder Niebuhr was his own arch- 
itect, and the child soon learnt to draw plans by watching his 
father at work, and asking him questions ; he was constantly at 
his side during the progress of the building, and long afterward re- 
tained an intelligent recollection of the proceedings of the work- 
men. His father was never weary of providing occupations and 
entertainments for his children. He had a skittle-ground made 
in the large court-yard, and in the winter a Russian mountain 
was put up in the garden. A very considerable collection of seals 
and coins was made for them, from which on Sundays they were 
allowed, as a treat, to take casts, and they eagerly studied her- 
aldry in connection with these. The father even applied to sev- 
eral of his learned friends in Copenhagen for specimens to enrich 
this collection. He was not less willing to devote his own time 
to their pleasure. In summer he would help his son to build 
fortifications in the garden according to the rules of military art, 
which he afterward taught the boy and his companions to at- 
tack and defend, likewise according to rule. In winter he often 
used to collect other children at his house in the evenings, and 
then set them to dance while he played for them on the violin. 
The Christmas festivities were seasons of unbounded enjoyment 
to Niebuhr in his childish years. He thus describes his blissful 
feelings, as a child at this festival, in a letter dated Copenhagen, 
December 30th, 1797 : — " I had the evening at liberty. I lock- 
ed myself up in my own room, and luxuriated in the recollections 
of my departed childhood, whose best and sweetest pleasure was 
my intense happiness at these Christmas festivals. I was of a 
grateful disposition ; a little thing would make me as happy as a 
prince, and I was not ill-behaved in my glee, which is as natural 
to many children as elation in prosperity is to grown-up people. 
A many-colored tissue of bright memories floats over to me from 
those times, of which the most distinct images are connected with 
my eighth year. But with all of them there is associated a pecu- 
liar charm of eager outstretched expectation and dazzling sur- 
prise, succeeded by a vehement feeling of delight, occupation, and 
gratitude. Happy is he who begins anew to recall with joy those 



30 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

scenes which he once fancied barren of interest, and afterward 
was obliged to rouse himself by reflection to prize, and contem- 
plated with mournful feeling, as not only lost to him, but dead 
even in memory." 

With such an education, it was natural that the children 
should grow up good and intelligent, but the boy early gave indi- 
cations of his extraordinary talents. His instruction in reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, seems to have begun in his fourth or 
fifth year, with his sister, under a tutor. He early distinguished 
himself by his quickness, ready apprehension, and sure retention 
of what he learned, and, according to his sister's account, he soon 
got before her. He had always finished the tasks that were set 
them sooner than she had, and then would roguishly dance round 
her, singing 

" Rest is sweet when work is done." 

Niebuhr says, in his Life of his father, " He instructed both of 
us in geography, and used to relate stories to us from history ; he 
taught me English and French — at all events much better than 
I could have learnt them from any instructor the place afforded, 
and also a little mathematics, in which he would have gone 
further had he not been discouraged by the want of liking and 
talent in myself. It must be confessed that he grew weary of 
teaching, whenever he found any want of seriousness and interest 
in his pupils, for he never could understand how it was possible 
that they should find a difficulty in receiving, with delight and 
attention, any kind of instruction whatever, as he himself had 
always done." 

These instructions must have commenced early, for in Decem- 
ber, 1782, when Niebuhr was six years old, his father writes to 
his brother-in-law, Eckhardt, " Barthold has begun to-day to 
learn the Greek alphabet, and shall now proceed to write Ger- 
man in Greek characters." Somewhat later, writing to the 
same individual, he says, " He studied the Greek alphabet only 
for a single day, and had no further trouble with it ; he did it 
with very little help from me. The boy gets on wonderfully. 
Boje says he does not know his equal ; but he requires to be 
managed in a peculiar way. May God preserve our lives, and 
give us grace to guide him aright ! Oh, if he could but learn to 
control the warmth of his temper ; I believe I might say his 
pride. He is no longer so passionate with his sister; but if he 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 31 

stumbles in. the least in repeating his lessons, or if his scribblings 
are -alluded to, he fires up instantly. He can not bear to be 
praised for them, because he believes that he does not deserve it. 
In short, I repeat it, he is proud ; he wants to know every thing, 
and is angry if he does not know it. May the Almighty guide 
and direct him!" Then he continues, " My wife complains that 
I find fault with Barthold unnecessarily. I did not mean to do 
so. He is an extraordinarily good little fellow, but he must be 
managed in an extraordinary way, and I pray God to give me 
wisdom and patience to educate him properly." 

The Boje mentioned in this letter, was the editor of the 
"Deutsches Museum," one of the earliest literary periodicals, not 
exclusively learned in its character, that appeared in Germany. 
He thus stood in connection with most of -the literary men of the 
day, and was himself a man of high intellect and taste. He had 
been appointed prefect of the province in 1781, and his settle- 
ment in Meldorf had an important influence on the life of the 
Niebuhrs. His society, and that of his wife, afforded the elder 
Niebuhrs, with whom they became very intimate, that unre- 
served intercourse with intelligent and highly cultivated people 
which they had previously missed at Meldorf, and Boje's large 
circle of friends imparted variety to their social life. The boy 
gained still more from these friends. He was allowed free access 
to Boje's extensive library, which was particularly rich in En- 
glish and French as well as German books, and gained thus much 
information which he could not have acquired elsewhere. But 
most of all, Boje's aesthetic and poetical turn of mind awakened 
in the child similar impulses, which would probably have other- 
wise remained dormant, as his father's cast of thought was essen- 
tially prosaic, and his method of education intentionally calcula- 
ted to repress the imagination and to exercise the other faculties. 
How keenly alive he was to poetical impressions appears from a 
letter of Boje's, written in 1783 : " This reminds me of little Nie- 
bulrr. His docility, his industry and his devoted love for me, pro- 
cure me many a pleasant hour. A short time back, I was read- 
ing ' Macbeth' aloud to Ins parents without taking any notice of 
him, till I saw what an impression it made upon him. Then I 
tried to render it all intelligible to him, and even explained to 
him how the witches were only poetical beings. "When I was 
gone, he sat down (he is not yet seven years old), and wrote it 



32 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

all out on seven sheets of paper, without omitting one important 
point, and certainly without any expectation of receiving praise 
for it; for, when his father asked to see what he had written, 
and showed it to me, he cried for fear he had not done it well. 
Since then he writes down every thing of importance that he 
hears from his father or me. We seldom praise him, but just 
quietly tell him where he has made any mistake, and he avoids 
the fault for the future." 

The child's character early exhibited a rare union of the facul- 
ty of poetical insight with that of accurate practical observation. 
The amusements he contrived for himself afford an illustration of 
this. During the periods of his confinement to the house, before 
he was old enough to have any paper given him, he covered 
with his writings and drawings, the margins of the leaves of sev- 
eral copies of Forskaal's works, which were used in the house as 
waste paper. Then he made copy-books for himself, in which 
he wrote essays, mostly on political subjects. He had an imagin- 
ary empire called Low-England, of which he drew maps, and 
he promulgated laws, waged wars, and made treaties of peace 
there. His father was pleased that he should occupy himself 
with amusements of this kind, and his sister took an active part 
in them. There still exist among his papers, many of his child- 
ish productions ; among others, translations and interpretations of 
passages of the New Testament, poetical paraphrases from the 
classics, sketches of little poems, a translation of Poncet's Travels 
in Ethiopia, an historical and geographical description of Africa, 
written in 1787 (the two last were undertaken as presents to his 
father on his birthday), and many other things mostly written 
during these years. His father probably in one way indirectly 
assisted these imaginative tendencies by his habit of relating his 
travels to him. 

" I well remember," says Niebuhr, in the Life of his father, 
" how he used to tell me stories in my childhood about the East, 
and the structure of the universe ; particularly in the evening, 
just before bed-time he would take me on his knee, and feed my 
imagination with these instead of fairy tales. The history of Mo- 
hammed, of the early Caliphs — especially of Omar and Ali, for 
whom he had the deepest reverence — of the conquests and spread 
of Islam ism, and the virtues of the heroes of the new faith, with 
the history of the Turks, were early imprinted on my memory in 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 33 

the most lively colors ; nay, works on these subjects were among 
the first books put into my hands. 

" I remember too, how, one Christmas Eve, when I must have 
been in my tenth year, he heightened the delights of the festival, 
by taking out of the almost magnificent chest which held his 
manuscripts, and was revered by the children and all the house- 
hold, like the ark of the covenant, the volumes which contained 
the information he had collected in Africa, and reading them 
with me. He had taught me to draw maps, and now, encour- 
aged and assisted by him, I soon produced maps of Habbesch and 
Sudan 

" He entered with the utmost indulgence and sympathy into my 
half old-fashioned, half childish ideas ; helped me in the details 
of my castles in the air ; conversed with me on all the topics 
of the day, and strove to give me clear conceptions of whatever 
subjects we talked upon — among other things, of fortifications, 
by encouraging me to measure out and excavate polygons under 
his eye, and with books and plans at hand." 

From a letter of his father's, it appears that Niebuhr was able 
to read any English books without help when only in his eighth 
year. Somewhat later, Madame Boje, who was an admirable 
French scholar, kindly undertook to teach him that language, 
which he had begun with his father. The death of this lady, 
in 1786, was the child's first experience of heart-sorrow. After 
the funeral his mother found him in the garden, rolling on the 
grass almost wild with grief, and it was a long time before he 
recovered his spirits. This had the effect of turning his atten- 
tion still more exclusively to the serious occupations to which he 
had been previously inclined, and in consequence his progress 
was more rapid than ever. 

In his eighth or ninth year he had begun to receive private 
lessons, principally in the classics, from one of the masters of the 
Gymnasium. As the linstruction in the ower classes of the school 
was defective, his father wished to keep him at home till he could 
at once enter the highest class. The master, however, was so 
deficient both in abilities and attainments, that his incapacity 
could not escape the boy, and with a child's love of mischief he 
used to tease him by learning his task within the appointed time, 
in order to oblige the tutor to read further than his preparation 
reached, when their respective positions were almost reversed, 



34 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the boy assuming the character of a teacher, while the master 
had to sit by his side as a learner. 

This state of affairs must have had a veiy injurious influence 
on the boy's character, as well as on the progress of his educa- 
tion, had not its effects on the one hand been neutralized by his 
unbounded desire of knowledge and remarkable abilities, and on 
the other by his good and affectionate disposition. But it is cer- 
tainly surprising that he should have made such extraordinary 
progress in spite of it, and still more so that it should never have 
caused his industry to flag. He tells us, however, that his father 
assisted him in his Latin, and read Caesar's Commentaries with 
him, in which he, very characteristically, paid much more atten- 
tion to the geography than to the grammar. 

It is mentioned that from about this time the young Niebuhr 
shared the warm interest in literature which prevailed in Ger- 
many toward the close of the eighteenth century, and eagerly wel- 
comed the appearance of any new work from the pens of Klop- 
stock, Lessing, and Goethe. But that interest in politics, which 
became the master-spring of his life, was first awakened at about 
the age of eleven. It is said that when the war with Turkey 
broke out in the year 1787, it so strongly excited the child's 
mind, that he not only talked of it in his sleep at night, but fan- 
cied himself in his dreams reading the newspapers and repeating 
the intelligence they contained about the war ; and his ideas on 
these subjects were so well arranged, and founded on so accurate 
a knowledge of the country and the situation of the towns, that 
the realization of his nightly anticipations generally appeared in 
the journals a short time afterward. Of course -this is not to be 
regarded as indicating a miraculous gift of prophecy in the boy, 
but only as showing with what distinctness all that he heard 
transferred itself to his imagination, and how capable his under- 
standing was of combining the ideas he had received in their 
true relation to each other. Partly through his father's narra- 
tives, partly through his own geographical studies, those regions 
were as familiar to him as his native province. He had studied 
the nations inhabiting them, and their mode of warfare, in his- 
tory and the accounts of travelers, and had taken great pains to 
gain accurate conceptions of the character and conduct of the 
various commanders in the war, from the journals and other 
sources of information. There are still extant some letters which 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 35 

he wrote at this time to his uncle Eckhardt, containing the 
gTounds and proofs of his predictions. 

This faculty of divination exliibited itself again during the 
early part of the French Revolution ; when in several instances 
he not only anticipated the course of events with reference to the 
progress of the war, but also the direction which popular move- 
ments would take, the plans and objects of the revolutionary 
leaders, and the results of the measures adopted by the various 
parties, with so much correctness and precision as to excite the 
astoirisliment even of the eminent statesman Count P. A. Bern- 
storff^ that such a mere youth should have so just and acute an 
appreciation of men and events. With equal correctness and cer- 
tainty did he guess the plans of the commanders during the war, 
from the marches and position of the armies, in which his exact 
and detailed geographical knowledge served as a guide to his 
judgment. He retained this faculty to a considerable extent 
during the whole of his life, but he possessed it in a higher degree 
in his earlier years, when he could concentrate the whole power 
of his mind on impressions of this kind. 

From the time when the Turkish war broke out, therefore, his 
attention was fixed upon historical events. But the disturbances 
in the Netherlands in the Emperor Joseph's time, excited in him 
a still stronger interest than the Turkish war, and it was height- 
ened by his acquaintance with a fugitive named De la Vida, who 
took up his residence in Meldorf. 

It happened about this time that many friends of Boje's and 
Niebuhr's came to visit them from Copenhagen and Germany ; 
several foreigners also came to Meldorf to make the acquaintance 
of the two authors. But the friend who had the most important 
influence on Niebuhr's studies was the well known poet Yoss,* 
who had married Boje's sister. 

During the frequent visits made to their brother by Yoss and 
his wife, an intimacy sprang up between him and JSTiebuhr, which 
was only terminated by death. Yoss soon discovered the wonder- 
ful talents of the boy, won his attachment by many acts of kind- 
ness, and assisted him with advice and guidance in his classical 
studies. He found his reward in the boy's affectionate reverence 
for him, and adherence to his counsels. 

In the conversations which took place among these friends and 
* The translator of Homer, author of " Luise," Sec. 



36 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR, 

foreigners during their visits to Holstein, the boy, then eleven or 
twelve years of age, was frequently called to take part, and not 
seldom information was asked of him regarding geographical, 
statistical, historical and other subjects, and given in a manner 
which excited their astonishment. His father used often to talk 
of this with great pleasure in later years, when his darling son 
had become his joy and pride. His statistical knowledge was 
even then extraordinary ; he was frequently assiduously engaged 
in subjects of this nature, such for instance as working out lists of 
mortality. 

All this would no doubt have rendered him vain or proud, but 
that his simple education in strict principles of obedience, the 
example of his father, and frequent expressions of his mother 
showing how little she valued such things, proved a sufficient 
counterpoise. Against vanity he was moreover protected by an 
instinctive love of completeness in knowledge, and a repugnance 
to all merely superficial brilliancy. Pride might have proved a 
more dangerous enemy, as he could not remain ignorant of his 
own superiority, had not his generous and loving spirit enabled 
him to appreciate every genuine manifestation of humanity, and 
taught him to look up with deep humility and admiration to those 
great men of ancient and modern times, whom he regarded as 
heroes in thought and action. 

In later years he was indeed conscious of his own value, and 
felt deeply hurt, when he thought himself not appreciated, or 
treated with intentional neglect, but he never over-estimated him- 
self ; in his letters we find frequent and touching proofs to the 
contrary. He displayed much magnanimity in his readiness to 
recognize eminent qualities and merits, even when they might 
come into collision with his own claims. No trace of envy, nor 
the slightest disposition to detraction, could ever be perceived in 
him. He inherited the distinguishing characteristics of his father, 
integrity and truthfulness — qualities that were so inherent in 
Carsten Niebuhr, that it was utterly impossible for him even to 
feel tempted to transgress their laws. Hence dishonesty and un- 
truthfulness, with the vain love of display so often combined with 
them, were of all faults those which Niebuhr most detested. 

Little variation occurred in his life during three years, beyond 
the incidents already mentioned. Materials for the acquisition oi 
knowledge were not wanting to him. Travels, especially in the 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 37 

other quarters of the world, were at all times his father's favorite 
reading, and of lighter literature he was able to obtain a constant 
supply from Boje, whose library was liberally stocked with works 
of this class. 

He was now entering on his thirteenth year, and his father, 
feeling that the desultory instruction he had hitherto received was 
insufficient for him, determined on sending him to the Gymnasium 
at Meldorf, a step which appears to have been in accordance with 
the boy's own inclinations. In a letter dated November, 1788, 
Carsten Niebuhr says : " Barthold has not troubled his head so 
much about the Turks and the Emperor for some time past, but 
has made up Ins mind to enter the highest class at Easter, and is 
therefore busily engaged with the history of literature. He revels 
so in the Latin authors that I am almost obliged to restrain his 
ardor." He was not however exclusively absorbed in books, as, 
from a passage in one of his mother's letters written about tins 
time, it appears that he was of great service to his father, during 
the autumn, in the financial calculations connected with the col- 
lection of extensive state revenues in South Dithmarsh. At 
Easter, 1789, Niebuhr entered the school, where he found him- 
self at once by far the youngest, and considerably the most ad- 
vanced in his class. In spite of this he was a favorite with his 
schoolfellows, a sure proof that he did not presume on his superior 
knowledge in his behavior toward them. He remained, however, 
at school only till the Michaelmas of the following year, when the 
Principal, Dr. Jager, found it necessary to dispense with his at- 
tendance, on the departure of most of the seniors, and the entrance 
of a much younger and less advanced set of boys into the highest 
class. Dr. Jager offered, however, contrary to his usual practice, 
to give him an hour's private lesson every day, which, he said, 
considering Niebuhr' s attainments and industry, would be suffi- 
cient to prepare him properly for the university. 

This offer was gladly accepted, and the daily lesson was con- 
tinued till Easter, 1794. Dr. Jager read with him the more 
difficult passages of the Greek and Latin authors, and gave him 
hints which enabled him to read them by himself, to study gram- 
mar and Greek composition, and to exercise himself in Latin 
composition. 

Other branches of knowledge he pursued by himself, except 
that his father occasionally assisted him in mathematics. There 



38 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

still exist plans of his daily studies, written at this time, which 
evince his extraordinary industry. More than half of each day 
he devoted to hard work, some hours to general reading, and a 
very short time to recreation and social pleasures. Yet in later 
life he often accused himself of indolence. The only ground he 
could have for this complaint was, that he prosecuted his studies 
rather under the guidance of inclination, than with reference to 
any definite object, and hence those subjects, which from being 
less attractive to him cost him the most effort, were placed in the 
background. He certainly suffered at this time from the want of 
any competent guide. He read largely, and collected an immense 
amount of information, more indeed than he was able to digest 
properly, and there was no one who could teach him how to sys- 
tematize his hoards of knowledge. He afterward became aware 
of this, and was often much depressed by perceiving the confusion 
of ideas that resulted from it, particularly during the period from 
1796 to 1798. When, as was not unfrequently the case, he found 
himself wandering involuntarily from the direct course in the 
studies he had undertaken, and perceived how much this habit 
of mind precluded his reaping due results from his labors, he com- 
plained with great bitterness of his self-incurred deficiency in 
energy and strength of will. 

In 1791 he was confirmed by a clergyman of Meldorf, who 
was a friend of the family. 

The French revolution, which broke out about this time, ex- 
cited a strong interest in him from its commencement. Its effect 
on his mind differed, however, from the impression it produced on 
most of the young, and many of the elder persons of that day, 
who saw in it the promise of an era of glorious liberty, and many 
of whom carried their enthusiasm to such a height, as to view 
the most horrible excesses, simply as deplorable but inevitable 
steps in the transition to a higher development of the human 
race. Hence arose a universal agitation, which brought forth 
many melancholy results in the schisms that took place between 
men of different views, the arrogant tone of triumph which the 
enthusiasts assumed in their speeches and writings toward those 
whom they deemed the unenlightened and timorous men of the 
opposite party, and the divisions that ensued among friends and 
families. Niebuhr had studied history with an earnestness and 
thoughtfulness unusual at his age, and early recognized the work- 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 39 

ings and 'tendencies of the democratic movements. The horrors 
of anarchy and popular tyranny, which that revolution exhibited 
with such fearful distinctness, filled him with deep sorrow, aud 
anxious misgivings for the fate of the rest of the world. He rev- 
erenced liberty, when obtained through self-sacrifice and persever- 
ing effort in conformity with the law ; and thus, in later life, he 
cherished a great respect for the Roman plebeians, who had con- 
quered their rights and their constitution by such means alone. 
But all that tended to lawlessness, to the overthrow of social 
order, to establish the sway of mobs and demagogues, he detested 
from his earliest youth, because he saw therein the germs of future 
barbarism. Doubtless, however, he would not have acquired 
these views so early, nor entertained them through life with such 
unalterable firmness, if, on the one hand, they had not received 
confirmation on so gigantic a scale from those great events ; and 
if, on the other, he had not brought to bear on all that was passing 
around him a most rare faculty of observation and combination, 
even at this early age. It is impossible to estimate how much the 
formation of his opinions may have been influenced by his father's 
way of thinking, whose preference for the English, and antipathy 
to the French, were perhaps even exaggerated,* yet it can not be 
doubted that his political sentiments were founded upon a real 
personal conviction. 

In the course of the year 1792, the elder Niebuhr resolved to 
send his son to spend some time in Hamburgh, at a school which 
was then the most celebrated of its kind in Europe for instruction 
in modern languages and commercial science. Its founder and 
head master, Busch, was an old friend of his, and the author 
of numerous highly esteemed works on commercial subjects.! 
Busch's school was nearly unique of its kind, and attended by 
pupils from all parts of Europe. His circle of acquaintance was 
one of the largest in Hamburgh. All the learned and intellectual 
society of the city assembled at his house ; all foreigners of dis- 

* "He saw in that nation [the French] our natural hereditary enemies ; and 
I remember he was delighted when the War of the Revolution broke out, not 
because he sided with the counter-revolutionary party, but because he hoped 
that the conquered German and Burgundian provinces might be regained — 
provinces which he always included in Germany when teaching his children 
geography." Life of C. Niebnhr, by Ms Son. 

t Of which the most remarkable are — "Outlines of a History of the most 
eminent Commercial Enterprises of the World," "Handbook of the Collective 
Commercial Sciences," and " the Library of Commerce." 



40 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Unction brought letters of introduction to him ; and his wife en- 
livened by her wit and intelligence the society which then counted 
among its members the poet Klopstock, the geographer Ebeling, 
and the more celebrated physician Reimarus (the first who prac- 
ticed inoculation, and who distinguished himself in that day by 
his advocacy of free trade and political reforms), and among its 
occasional guests, Lessing and other noted literary men. The 
young Niebuhr was not to be placed merely on the footing of a 
scholar, but was to be admitted to the social intercourse of the 
house. This resolution seems to have been prompted by Carsten 
Niebuhr' s wish that his son should choose a diplomatic career, for 
which he regarded a residence in Biisch's house as an excellent 
preparation. He also wished that his son, who had lived up to 
this time entirely at home, should acquire a wider knowledge of 
the world and the tone of good society, and learn to take an in- 
terest in subjects relating to practical life. He felt too that his 
boy's attachment to home was excessive, and that his too eager 
pursuit of his studies threatened lasting injury to his health. The 
visit was offered the young Niebuhr as a reward for his industry, 
his father sincerely believing that it would conduce as much to 
his pleasure as to his improvement. He was, however, disap- 
pointed in his expectations. The youth was received and treated 
most kindly by Biisch, but the continual whirl of amusement and 
occupation in the house, the contrast presented by the ordinary 
topics of conversation and the pleasantries in so mixed a society, 
to those he had been accustomed to, produced a most painful im- 
pression on his mind. He felt restless and dissatisfied in this new 
world, where his most cherished sentiments were unregarded or 
misunderstood. It was indeed natural that the elder men around 
him should take little notice of the thoughts of a youth of sixteen, 
yet in many respects he could not but feel conscious of his own 
superiority to them. Klopstock and Ebeling, however, liked and 
appreciated him, and in their society he felt at ease. The former 
frequently invited him to his house, and this acquainatnce was 
the most valuable result of Niebuhr' s stay in Hamburgh, for he 
was too home-sick to make much progress in his studies. He im- 
plored his father to allow him to leave, declaring that his residence 
in Hamburgh was an utter waste of time ; and when Ins father 
did not immediately accede to his request, repeated his entreaties 
with such vehemence, that the elder Niebuhr yielded, and fetched 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 41 

him back after a three months' absence. It may be doubted 
■whether he would not have acted more wisely for his son's true 
interests, if he had stood firm ; for though it is very probable that 
young Niebuhr would have advanced less rapidly hi his studies 
amidst the distractions of Hamburgh than in the quiet of home, 
the hie in Biisch's house, among young people of his own age, 
would perhaps have furnished precisely the discipline needed to 
neutralize the effects of his solitary education at home, which had 
stimulated the precocity' of his intellect, and the over-sensitiveness 
of his temperament. Perhaps in after life Niebuhr's defect as a 
practical statesman, was that he set too high a standard for man- 
kind at large, instead of taking them as he found them, which 
made it difficult for him to work with others, and rendered him 
liable to despair of men and classes, as soon as he detected their 
moral deficiencies. This tendency — the natural result of his own 
disinterestedness of character, and the unusually high moral tone 
of the society in which his early years were passed — might have 
been corrected, had he been forced to come into daily contact with 
a number of young men of about the average stamp, at an age 
when he coidd not have made them treat him otherwise than as 
one of themselves. 

His return to Meldorf was, however, a great immediate comfort 
to his family, as his father was soon after seized with a dangerous 
and tedious illness, which for a long time incapacitated him for 
performing the duties of his office. During his convalescence 
Niebuhr undertook the financial part of his duties, and the fact 
that he was capable of performing them at so early an age, may 
be regarded as the first indication of his future eminence as a 
financier. 

After this interruption Niebuhr resumed his studies, and his 
private lessons with Dr. Jager. From this time he employed 
himself in collating MSS., which Miinter sent him from Copen- 
hagen, and Heyne fron Gottingen. The latter wished that the 
superintendence of Niebuhr's studies should be confided to him, 
and it was his father's intention to send him to Gottingen after he 
had passed through the two years' course of study in his native 
university of Kiel, necessary to render him eligible for receiving 
any official appointment in his own country. 

His favorite intercourse during this period was with a young 
man named Prehn, a few years older than himself, who had been 



42 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

a playfellow of his childhood, and was now appointed secretary to 
the prefecture. The two friends, who were very different in other 
respects, had a common interest in pursuing their researches into 
the constitution and condition of their native province. 

The time from Michaelmas, 1792, to Easter, 1794, was spent 
in his father's house, amidst the employments and circumstances 
already mentioned. He was now more occupied than formerly 
with the study of modern languages. With French, English, 
and Italian he had long been familiar; the sale at this time of 
some books cast on shore from a wreck incited him to learn 
Spanish, and, soon afterward, Portuguese. A letter from his 
father, dated December, 1807, gives a summary of the languages 
with which he was acquainted. " My son has gone to Memel 
with the commissariat of the army. When he found he should 
probably have to go to Riga, he began forthwith to learn Rus- 
sian. Let us just reckon how many languages he knows already. 
He was only two years old when we came to Meldorf, so that we 
must consider — 1. German, as his mother tongue. He learnt at 
school — 2. Latin ; 3. Greek ; 4. Hebrew ; and besides, in Mel- 
dorf he learnt — 5. Danish ; 6. English ; 7. French ; 8. Italian ; 
but only so far as to be able to read a book in these languages ; 
some books from a vessel wrecked on the coast induced him to 
learn — 9. Portuguese ; 10. Spanish ; — of Arabic, he did not learn 
much at home, because I had lost my lexicon, and could not 
quickly replace it ; — in Kiel and Copenhagen, he had oppor- 
tunities of practice in speaking and writing French, English, 
and Danish; in Copenhagen, he learnt — 11. Persian (of Count 
Ludolph, the Austrian minister, who was born at Constantinople, 
and whose father was an acquaintance of mine), and 12. Arabic, 
he taught himself; in Holland he learnt — 13. Dutch; and again 
in Copenhagen — 14. Swedish, and a little Icelandic ; at Memel 
— 15. Russian; 16. Slavonic; 17. Polish; 18. Bohemian; and, 
19. Illyrian. With the addition of Low German, this makes in 
all twenty languages. Forgive this effusion of my heart con- 
cerning my son. I did not mean to boast of him." 

During these years, Niebuhr often grieved over the progress of 
events in France. The scenes of horror in 1791-3, almost dis- 
gusted him with Europe, and he and his sister often turned their 
thoughts toward America, hoping to find there, with a few 
friends, the repose which seemed to have forsaken the old world. 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 43 

Even then his mind was often visited by that anxiety about the 
retrogression of the present generation toward barbarism, which 
troubled the last months of his life. In later years, he would 
certainly never have thought of America as a place to settle in. 
Both the want of any proper nationality among that amalgam of 
races, and the absence of any historical antecedents in their cir- 
cumstances, as well as the predominance of the mercantile in- 
terest, and the want of literary society, would have prevented 
that country from ever becoming a congenial residence to him. 



CHAPTER II. 

NTEBUHR'S COLLEGE LIFE, FROM 1794 TO 1796. 

At Easter, 1794, Niebuhr commenced his studies at the Uni- 
versity of Kiel. He found his position and society here infinitely 
more agreeable than in Hamburgh. Indeed, he could hardly 
have been more favorably situated, for the students were at that 
time in general characterized by industry and morality, while 
most of the professors were men of distinguished talent, and ap- 
pear to have shown great kindness in admitting the students to 
friendly intercourse with themselves. He found in the aged Pro- 
fessor Hensler, who was head physician to the University, and a 
friend of his father's, a man full of intellect, feeling, and inform- 
ation, to whose house he had constant access. Of all the pro- 
fessors, there was none who attracted Niebuhr' s lasting affection 
so much as Dr. Hensler ; but in Iris house he found another friend, 
who exercised a still greater influence over him — one in fact, who, 
by what she was, and what she did, affected his development and 
his destiny more, perhaps, than any other human being. She 
was the widow of a son of Dr. Hensler, who had died very young, 
and from that time she had resided with her father-in-law, to 
whom she supplied the place of a daughter. She was a woman 
of strong and healthy mind, with much decision of character, 
combined with deep feeling and no ordinary cultivation — one of 
those women whose clear and correct judgment and ever-ready 
sympathy render them through life the person to whom all their 
friends instinctively turn for advice and assistance. She was six 
years older than Niebuhr — a circumstance which prevented any 
shyness and restraint on her side, while the unusual maturity of 
his character rendered him not too young to be a companion to 
her. 

The professors with whom Niebuhr chiefly associated were, be- 
sides Hensler, Hegewisch, author of " The History of German 
Civilization," &c.-^-a man of considerable talents and attain- 
ments, but of no great depth as a critic ; Cramer, a well known 
professor of Roman law ; and Reinhold, author of " Letters on the 
Philosophy of Kant," and several other philosophical works, one 



COLLEGE LIFE. 45 

of the first who drew attention to Kant's philosophy, which he 
expounded in Ins lectures.* 

Among the young men he soon made the acquaintance of 
several with whom he afterward formed sincere and lasting friend- 
ships. Of these, were Conrad Hensler, a relative of Dr. Hensler's ; 
Thibaut, afterward a celebrated professor of jurisprudence in Kiel, 
and subsequently in Heidelberg ; a M. von Spath, who had pre- 
viously served in the army ; and a French emigrant, named Da- 
chon de Billiere, a man of eccentric character but high principle. f 

Reinhold, who had just removed to Kiel from Jena, excited so 
great an enthusiasm for the study of philosophy that the better 
class of students were ashamed to neglect it. This had an ele- 
vating influence, too, on their moral character. Reinhold also 
founded a club, to which both the professors and the students were 
eligible, where the meetings were designed principally for scien- 
tific conversation, and concluded with a frugal supper. Niebuhr 
became a member of this club, but he did not join in any of the 
societies confined to the students. 

He studied at Kiel till Easter, 1796. During his first year, he 
attended lectures on German and Danish history, by Hegewisch ; 
on jurisprudence and the institutes, by Cramer ; on logic, meta- 
physics, and moral philosophy, by Reinhold ; on natural philoso- 
phy, organic and inorganic chemistry, by Eimbke ; on aesthetics, 
by Nasser. What lectures he attended during the latter year of 
his stay his friends can not recollect with certainty : most probably 
some on anthropology by Hensler, and the Pandects by Cramer. 
Philology and history continued to be his favorite pursuits, but he 
carried them on by himself, and attended none of the college lec- 
tures on these subjects, excepting the two courses by Hegewisch, 
before mentioned. Though in later life he was far from possessing 
a metaphysical cast of mind, it appears that at this time he de- 
voted himself with great zeal to the study of philosophy, particu- 
larly the system of Kant. The Greek and Roman classics were 
at all times the most attractive to him ; but while at college he 
only permitted himself to read them as a sort of reward for in- 
dustry. "When reading the ancients, he completely lived in their 

* He was son-in-law to Wieland, and the predecessor of Fichte at Jena. 

t Though he did not stir from his house for weeks together, he spent nearly- 
all his leisure hours in reading travels, many of which he obtained from the 
elder Niebuhr ; and he used to beg him to send him none in any country nearer 
than Turkey, because all that described European countries reminded him so 
strongly of the Revolution that he could not bear to read them. 



46 MEMOIR OF NIEBURR. 

world and with them. He once told a friend, who had called on 
him and found him in great emotion, that he often could not bear 
to read more than a few pages at a time in the old tragic poets ; 
he realized so vividly all that was said and done and suffered, by 
the persons represented. He could see Antigone leading her blind 
father — the aged (Edipus entering the grove — he could catch the 
music of their speech, and felt certain that he could distinguish 
the true accent of the Greeks, though he could not reproduce it 
with his barbarian tongue. 

His liveliness of imagination, and quickness and depth of feeling, 
rendered his mental condition extremely variable ; his sense of 
enjoyment was so keen, that any thing which gave him pleasure 
would at times affect him even to tears, while, on the other hand, 
trivial circumstances would occasion him an unwarrantable de- 
gree of annoyance, or even excite him to momentary asperity. 
His sensitive physical temperament aggravated this tendency, and 
when he was suffering in body or had over-studied himself, he 
became dull and incapable of mental exertion, and in such cases 
he would often fancy that his faculties were giving way ; but an 
interesting conversation with a friend, or a literary work of im- 
portance, was sufficient to recover him from this state, and restore 
him to his mental powers. 

The series of letters to his parents only extends to the middle 
of December, 1794, when it is interrupted, and we have no more 
addressed to them .from that time to January, 1798. Of all that 
he wrote in the succeeding years, but few have been preserved. 
After the death of his father, he requested to have them returned 
to him, and all except those inserted in the " Lebensnachrichten" 
were destroyed when his house at Bonn was burnt down in 1830. 
Were the complete series still in existence, there would be little to 
add to their records of his life up to the time of his father's death. 

The following extracts will give a picture of his life and mind 
during the first year of his university career, beginning when he 
was seventeen years and a half old. 

I. 

TO HIS PARENTS. 

Kiel, lltk May, 1794. 
My dear Parents — When I remember the anxiety and sorrow we felt 
at parting, my gloomy ideas of this place, my melancholy at being trans- 
planted, from my quiet peaceful occupations in the midst of you all, to 
this noisy town, and the deep silence of my solitary room, &e., how glad 



COLLEGE LIFE. 47 

and thankful 1 am to have found every thing better than my expectations. 
I would give a great deal — yes, what I prize most of all, some days of my 
future stay with you — if you could know a little sooner how happy I am, 
if you could know it at this moment while I am writing. 

On Friday morning I paid my calls. I found neither Dr. Hensler nor 
Hegewisch nor Cramer at home : thence I went to call on Ehler, who was 
supplying the place of Fabricius, as Dean of Philosophy, during his travels. 
Then I took a walk, and enjoyed, even to sadness, the beauty of the scen- 
ery, the blue sea, the flowery meadows, the green forest, and the singing 
of the nightingales. Hensler sent for me to come to him at six. You 
may believe I did not keep him waiting. I had expected a friendly re- 
ception, but not such a one as I found. I was shown into his library, 
where he came to me, and accosted me with such hearty kindness that he 
won me instantly. Other people came in afterward : but they did not 
put a stop to our conversation, indeed Eimbke rather helped it on. As I 
went away, Hensler told me I might come again as often as I liked ; and 
he would do with me as he had done with some of his young friends be- 
fore, send me into the library if he was busy. I shall certainly not neglect 
this opportunity of gaining both information and enjoyment. I told him 
of my great wish to see Reinhold, and he promised, when he saw him, to 
try and get me an invitation. Yesterday I found Hegewisch at home at 
last, but only for a few minutes ; he had to go to an examination. He 
was very friendly, and said he hoped we should have many walks together. 
By his invitation I remained with Mrs. H., the first cultivated woman 1 
have seen as yet in Kiel, except those whom I may have seen at the win- 
dows perhaps without knowing them. Carl Cramer's* misfortune was 
the subject of our conversation. She was so polite as to invite me to call 
frequently. Thence I went to the Library, where I made the acquaintance 
of Kordes, who was extremely civil to me. 

I have just returned from Dr. Hensler' s again. I am to call on Beinhold 
to-nmrrow. Hensler has obtained permission for me to do so. 1 am in a 
fever of impatience. Hensler assures me, he never saw any man whose 
first address so instantly prepossesses you in his favor and so irresistibly 
wins your heart. If I could but feel as free with him as with Hensler ! 
I am convinced that Hensler takes a great interest in me. My ideas 
about the origin of the Greek tribes, the history of the colonization of the 
Greek cities, and my notions in general about the earliest migration from 
west to east, are new to him, and he thinks it probable that they may be 
correct. He exhorts me to Avork them out, and bring them into as clear a 
form as I can. But he will only allow me to study philosophy for the 
present ; I am to let other matters rest, or at least do very little in them. 
I think, however, he will let me do more as soon as my progress in philos- 
ophy will allow of it without injury to my health, about which I have con- 
sulted him. I am much pleased to find that Hensler agrees with my 
political principles ; and he is equally pleased that Eeinhold agrees with 
him. My dinner society is very good. Among others I single oiit the 
advocate Jahn as a man of talent ; but I have not yet had much conver- 
sation with him. Hensler has arranged my course of study thus : — Ger- 

* The brother of the professor of this name before mentioned, and likewise a 
professor in Kiel. He lost his professorship at this time, owing to his openly 
expressed admiration of the French Revolution. 



48 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

man History, with Hegewisch ; Jurisprudence, with Cramer j Logic and 
Metaphysics, with Reinhold ; and ^Esthetics. 

II. 

Kiel, 27th May, 1794. 

I just fancy myself hack again among you all with great vividness, and 
can assure you honestly, that it gives me much more pleasure than pain. 
I prize the advantages of Meldorf, and can tell you, that though I am very 
happy here, I learn nothing, putting Reinhold's instructions, and some 
other things, out of the question, compared to what I could at home, in 
my own room ; for as to German History, I already know nearly all that 
comes in the lectures, and could learn more by myself. But this I say 
only to my most intimate friends, and. to them in such a way that they 
can see I am very well contented here on the whole. I have now, I think, 
completed the circle of my more intimate friends, and do not mean to ex- 
tend it. It consists of Reinhold, Hensler, Hegewisch, and, among the 
young men, Purgstall, Maisl, Meier of Altona, Thibaut, and Conrad Hensler. 

Of philosophical books which I do not understand, I have so far a super- 
fluity. Since I heard that Fichte has begun to defend the right of insur- 
rection (which, however, Kant and Reinhold abhor), and to deny the 
obligation of treaties, I begin to fear that men are abusing the mysteries 
of philosophy, from which I expected, and still expect, the elucidation and 
.olution of the most important questions, to the establishment of the most 
ireadful sophisms, or at least that a skillful hand may so abuse them. 
And then, if philosophy itself be turned against the cause of right and 
civil order, and the power of the mob be backed by the authority of bril- 
liant fallacies, what refuge from their united tyranny is left us but death ? 

I long to get back to my ancients, my best friends, to whom I owe all 
my thoughts, at least on such subjects, to Aristotle and Cicero. Oh that 
it were permitted me, if only like the last of these, to attain an imperfect 
wisdom, and to expound it with his majesty of style ! 

III. 

Kiel, 7th June, 1794. 
This day twelvemonth was a memorable one to me. It was the day I left 
Meldorf for Hamburgh. I do not know whether the recollection of it is 
cheering or depressing, but I am very fond just at present of looking back 
upon many things that occurred this time last year. This day month too, 
I left you for the second time in my life. The fi«t month in Hamburgh 
did not pass away with such happy speed as this has done. There I suf- 
fered from illness and melancholy ; here I e«joy health and spirits. And 
even if I had learnt little or nothing of lasting value to me, except from 
Reinhold and Hensler (though I have learnt a great deal besides), should 
I have cause to regret that I can not pursue my favorite study 'here, at 
least never with sufficient assiduity ? Ought not the prospect of finding 
no insuperable difficulties in philosophy, to rejoice me as it does, even though 
I may never be able to master it entirely, but only to comprehend its 
general outline ? I do not flatter myself with the idea that I shall ever 
become, properly speaking, a critical philosopher. No, that I dare not 
hope for, because I can not devote my whole life to this study, and indeed 
think I can employ it more profitably in active exertion. The philoso 



COLLEGE LIFE. 49 

liber's satisfaction ends with speculation. But, as Bolingbroke justly re- 
mark.-?, he who speculates in order to act, goes further. I could wish I 
had it in my power to do this, and to that end, should like to devote two 
years to philosophy, and then to study jurisprudence as long as might be 
necessary. But if I must be content with one year of philosophy, and 
even divide the latter half of that with jurisprudence, I will at least as far 
as I can, strive to gain a thorough insight into the system of the Critical 
philosophy, and when I have once got on the right track, follow it perse- 
veringly till I have found either truth, or the impossibility of truth. It 
would certainly have been a good thing fa- me, to have inured myself pre- 
viously to meditation, by the study of other systems of philosophy ; and 
yet on the other hand, as it is, I can plant every thing in a fresh soil ; no 
preconceived notions stand in the way of tin se which Reinhold communi- 
cates to me. If it were possible for him to develop all his ideas (or even 
some of them) in my mind with half his clearness of thought, how would 
even my skepticism vanish ! But unfortunately I have only been able so 
far to clear up my ideas to a very small extent, and have to struggle with 
obscurity on all sides. True, it is gradually dispersing, and has already 
given way on some points ; still, 1 constantly feel my weakness, and wish 
for more power of thought than 1 possess. We have now come to the 
faculty of Cognition, consequently have finished the Representational facul- 
ty. In the holidays I intend to study all we have gone through as thor- 
oughly as I can, that when Reinhold returns, I may lay before him the 
principal points which I do not understand. 

I have received the globe through H., and with the assistance of that 
and Palrymple's Collection of Voyages of Discovery, I mean to begin a 
description of the South Sea ; this will form the subject of my first essay ; 
the second will be on the regions about Greenland, Iceland, and the doubt- 
ful Friesland, with reference to the voyages of the Zeni. It may also in- 
clude some islands, probably fabulous, and certainly not now in existence, 
which on this, and other old globes, are placed between Europe and 
America. You see how busy I am. Whether I shall be able to accom- 
plish all this, time will show ; but it is a work in which no one can help 
me. 

I have caught a little cold, so I did not get up till nearly six this morn- 
ing, and have not done much to-day beyond beginning my researches con- 
cerning Solomon's Islands, about which our globe gives quite new results. 
Yesterday and to-day I have read a great deal in Pope, and it has quite 
refreshed me. 

How much I shall have to read merely about Solomon's Islands ! Are 
they really the New Hebrides of Bougainville, Cook, and Eorster ? or are 
they the Britannias of Carteret and Dampier ? 

I often take walks with Maisl. Our conversation is mostly about his- 
tory ; for as he attends Hegewisch's lectures on Universal History, as well 
as those on German History, he repeats to me the most important of 
Hegewisch's propositions in a condensed form, which I am often forced to 
dispute, but have notwithstanding almost as great a respect for Hege- 
wisch's learning as for Hensler's, which is saying every thing. 

I have not as yet fully explained to any body but Hensler, my ideas 
about the colonization of Greece, and the whole of Asia Minor, including 
Armenia, from the West. For the peopling of the rest of Asia, I assume, 



50 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

1. the Aramaic or Assyrian race, to which belong the Arabs, Jews, Syri- 
ans, Assyrians, Chaldees, and Medes, of more or less pure descent ; 2. the 
Indo-Persic ; 3. the Tartar; 4. the Mongul ; and 5. probably the Chinese 
race. Taking this as a basis, we can proceed further, and shall obtain 
every where at last the same result, viz., that these great national races 
nave never sprung from the growth of a single family into a nation, but 
always from the association of several families of human beings, raised 
above their fellow animals by the nature of their wants, and the gradual 
invention of a language, each of which families probably had originally 
formed a language peculiar to itself. This last idea belongs to Pteinhold. 
By this I explain the immense variety of languages among the North 
American savages, which it is absolutely impossible to refer to any com- 
mon source, but which, in some cases, have resolved themselves into one 
language, as in Mexico and Peru for instance ; and also the number of 
synonyms in the earliest periods of languages. On this account, I main- 
tain that we must make a very cautious use of differences of language as 
applied to the theory of races, and have more regard to physical conform- 
ation, which latter is exactly the same, for instance, in most of the Indian 
tribes of North America. I believe further that the origin of the human 
race is not connected with any given place, but is to be sought every 
where over the face of the earth : and that it is an idea more worthy of 
the power and wisdom of the Creator, to assume that he gave to each zone 
and each climate its proper inhabitants, to whom that zone and climate 
would be the most suitable, than to assume that the human species has de- 
generated in such innumerable instances. Here is one of the most import- 
ant elements of history still remaining to be examined, that which is, in- 
truth, the very basis upon which all history must be reared, and the first prin- 
ciple from which it must proceed. This of all subjects should be thoroughly 
investigated in the first place-, and then (to which philosophy is necessary); 
a universal history ought to be written, which should exhibit all nations 
from the same point of view. This point of view Reinhold beautifully 
defines as the relation between reason and sensation. When this univer- 
sal history is completed, the separate history of each country should follow. 
This is the way in which I would teach history, if I had Hegewisch's- 
learning and position. But the latter I Avish for kss and less the more I 
know of it. H. began to talk to me one day as if be wished to attract me 
to the academical profession ; but withdrew his proposals, when I assured 
him that I should desire a life of greater activity, and more opportunity to 
make myself useful, especially in such times as ours. This he quite ap~ 
proved of, and advised me, therefore, zealously to study Roman law, and 
pitied me for having to devote so much time to other things ; but as to 
this too every thing depends upon the point of view from which we regard 
our studies, and the manner in which we pursue them. I have not yet 
told Hensler of our projects, because they are growing rather problematical 
to me ; but he bids me take courage whatever happen, for, he says, I 
should be certain to rise by my own exertion without any occasion for 
servility. That I voluntarily go to no parties, has his full approbation. 
They rob me of the evening and the morning hours ; and, what is stilt 
worse, of the calmness of mind which must be undisturbed by dissipation t 
if one is to work. 



COLLEGE LIFE. 51 

IV. 

Kiel, 6th July, 1794. 

My health is but indifferent. Hegewisch leaves this week, and then the 
lectures on German History will be over. I mean to employ the hours I 
shall then have at liberty, in walking to Diistembrook, with a book, and 
reading there till toward noon. Of course, I shall not at first take the 
"Critique of Pure Reason," or the "Theory of the Representational 
Powers,"' to amuse myself with; but a simple historical work or a poet, 
Hume. Demosthenes, Pope, or something of that kind. The " Critique of 
Pure Reason," however, is not comparatively so very difficult, and some 
chapters seem to me quite easy to understand, very forcible, and when you 
are able to enter properly into their spirit, very clear. Hensler thinks me 
already quite competent to take the " Critique" hi hand, but forbids me to 
do so on account of my health. 

My acquaintance with M. has been put a stop to by the difference of 
our principles ; and what is strange, not in politics, but philosophy. He 
denies the freedom of the will, and the moral law ; is a fatalist and indif- 
ferentist : 1 subscribe to Kant's principles with all my heart. I have 
broken with M., not from any dispute we have had, but on account of the 
detestable conclusions which necessarily follow from his opinions, conclu- 
sions that absolutely annihilate all morality. I really loved him notwith- 
standing, but with such principles I could not be his friend. 

V. 

Kiel, 20lh July, 1794 
You will see from the above that I am in good spirits. My occupations 
acquire new charms for me, and grow easier too, the further I advance and 

the more I get used to them 

My head swims when I survey what I have yet to learn — philosophy, 
mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history. Then, too, I must per- 
fect myself in history, German and French, and study Roman law, and the 
political constitutions of Europe as far as I can, and increase my knowledge 
of antiquities ; and all this must be done within five years at most, so far 
as a foundation can be laid in that time, for truly it will not allow me to 
accomplish more than that with regard to most of these things ; and it 
would be hard indeed if I could not find time and opportunity afterward to 
complete the superstructure. I must know all these things, but how I 
shall learn them, Heaven knows ! That I shall require them, as a learned 
man, or in any position I may occupy, I am fully convinced. 

VI. 

Kiel, 27th July, 1794. 

My health and spirits are quite restored, my dearest parents. I feel 
that I have made some progress in philosophy, and cleared the way for 
much more, so that I have not labored in vain. I see at last what I have 
yet to learn, and why I must learn it. I have received much assistance 
lately in this respect from a treatise of Spinoza's, which has wonderfully 

strengthened my mind and cleared up my thoughts I mean to 

make an abstract of all the best works that I read in every department of 

my studies, and arrange every subject under certain heads I 

think I shall make the most rapid progress in knowledge, by perfecting my 



52 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

acquaintance with the sciences that I have begun. In the seven years 
between this and my twenty-fifth year, I should like to lay a foundation in 
all the sciences that will be useful to me, so that afterward I might be 
able to keep pace with the progress of the age on all subjects, and to ad- 
vance before it on some points, which I shall be all the more capable of 
doing from understanding them in their connection with the rest. I think 
that then (though I might reach my thirtieth year before completing the 
work that would only serve as an introduction to any creative labors of my 
own in science), I should know all that Bolingbroke requires for a com- 
petent statesman. And though I have quite lost the foolish ambition 
which made me think of aiming at high offices of state, the inward gain 
would still be left me, the consciousness of having developed my powers, 
and rendered myself fit for usefulness. 

VII. 

Kiel, 2d August, 1794. 

I now know who are the men worth knowing at the university, 

and can reckon all the best of them among my friends, or at least my ac- 
quaintance. We form a sort of circle, which Thibaut and I had thought 
of bringing together in a literary club, but we shall hardly be able to 
manage it this winter. 

Purgstall's love for Greek is on the wane, since he took to spending the 
Saturdays and Sundays in the neighboring country places ; and it makes 
me dislike the hour from six to seven, that I sacrifice to him out of friend- 
ship. I am vexed at it, and yet I do not like to let him see this, lest he 
should lose all liking for the lesson ; in other respects I like him as well as 
ever ; perhaps, too, he is suffering from home-sickness. 

I hope much from the winter, when I shall take advantage of the long 
candle-light evenings in a warm room. The winter after, I shall spend at 
home, and go on with philosophy, ancient literature, my researches in Greek 
history, and mathematics. How much I shall be able to get through 
then in six or seven months ! I should like at that time, by way of prac- 
tice, to deliver some lectures on the principles of the Critical Philosophy 
to my friends. I should not bring forward any new doctrines ; I have 
not capacity for that. Probably I might throw light on some points, but 
history is my vocation, and to that I shall perhaps some day make my 
philosophical acquisitions subservient. I shall very likely attend lectures 
on the Institutes this winter. Pteinhold's "Letters,"^ to say the truth 
(and a great part of the "Elucidations"), are, to my taste, as insipid as 
his " Theory" is delightful. 

If I could introduce to you the friends with whom I am on terms of in- 
timacy, or describe them to you, you would say I had chosen well, and 
esteem me happy to have found such in Kiel. Of some, I say myself, and 
you know I am not over-modest, that they are better than I ; of most, 

those would say so, who know us and are impartial In Thibaut 

I have nothing to censure but a little obstinacy, and a leaning to democ- 
racy, which does not, however, prevent my loving him, since it seems to 
me excusable in him, considering his descent from the refugees of tin • last 
century ; his apparent coldness gives way with frequent intercourse, and 
changes into the sincerest friendship ; more industry, more vigor of intei- 
* The Letters on Kant's Philosophy, mentioned above. 



COLLEGE LIFE. 53 

iect, more irreproachable virtue and integrity, can not be desired in a 
human being than he possesses 

VIII. 

Kiel, 21si August, 1794. 

Yesterday afternoon I felt very gloomy; I set off to Hensler's to 

cheer myself up. I went into the library, and had not been long there, 
when the servant was sent to ask me down stairs. I found, besides Hens- 
ler's wife and daughter-in-law, the mother and sister of the latter — con- 
sequently countrywomen of mine from Dithmarsh — and several others. I 
felt then really, to a painful degree, the timidity and bashfulness before 
ladies of which I wrote to you lately. However much I may improve in 
other society, I am sure I must get worse and worse every day in their 
eyesj and so, out of downright shyness, I scarcely dare speak to a lady; 
and as I know, once for all, that I must be insupportable to them, their 
presence becomes disagreeable to me. Yesterday, however, I screwed up 
my courage, and began to talk to Miss Behrens,* and young Mrs. Hensler. 
Now, in gratitude and candor, I must confess that they were sociable 
enough toward me to have set me at my ease if my shyness were no.t so 
deeply rooted. But it is of no use. I avoid them, and would rather be 
guilty of impoliteness, by avoiding them, than by speaking to them, which 
I should now feel to be the greatest impoliteness of all. At last, however, 
especially through taking a walk with Hensler and Dr. Behrens, I got so 
roused up that my awkwardness vanished, and I went home cured. Thus 
I was healed by Hensler's words and looks. 

IX. 

Kiel, 1th September, 1794. 

On Monday afternoon I received, through Purgstall, an invitation 

from Madame de B. to spend the evening with her. She had been two 
days floating about on the sea between here and Alsen, or whatever other 
more flowery mode of expression she may have selected. I tell you — and 
I do not know how I shall keep it to myself in Meldorf — she was insuffer- 
able, beyond comparison worse than on any former occasion. With a tone 
of great unction, she began to hold forth in such an absurd style, upon 
philosophical subjects, that I could not conquer myself so far as to let my 
silence be construed into assent. My objection was indeed as modestly 
urged as if it had been directed against Beinhold himself; that I held due 
to the lady ; but it only caused the fair philosopher to produce her fancied 
arguments with all the greater earnestness. Positively I can not conceive 
how we could all take her for a philosopher. She is nothing but a miser- 
able twaddler, shallow and insipid, words without ideas. Then, too, I have 
learnt to see through her conversational artifices. Three times, if not 
more, have I heard her tell the same anecdote ; twice within the last few 
days has she repeated the same thing. We were talking about Providence, 
The lady said (God knows from what author she took it) that Providence 
could be proved more convincingly from the arrangements of nature, than 
from the course of history ; and I maintained the contrary, Providence, I 
said, like the existence of God, was a matter of faith, not of demonstration ; 
't lay beyond the province of reason, as the " Critique" beautifully shows 
* Who was afterward his first wife 



54 MEMOIR OF NIEBTTHR. 

But if our aim was to find a support for our transcendental faith, we could 
not, strictly speaking, rest safely on arguments about the arrangements of 
nature, which could not do more than strengthen the belief in a supremely 
wise Cause of the universe, and could not even place this quite above the 
reach of attack from materialists. We must look to the succession of his- 
torical events for a confirmation of this faith. Perhaps it was the desire 
of confounding the lady-philosopher by a paradox, that incited me to lay 
down this, in itself, very tenable proposition. However, it was a barricade 
which, with all her loquacity, she could not get through. But before either 
she had owned herself vanquished, which she never would have done, or I 
had abandoned the strife from politeness, behold ! there came the master, 
R,einhold himself, and she was silent. I might have talked on unrestrain- 
ed, for I knew very well that, to be consistent, Reinhold must have agreed 
with me. I have been summoned to her house several times since, and on 
Thursday was even invited to dinner. She has left now. Has Hamburgh 
changed this woman, or did we see her in Meldorf through colored glass ? 
It was our frivolity, good nature, vanity, and all ouv respective peculiarities 
of thought and feeling, which we discussed till we brought ourselves into a 
community of sentiment, and one and all got our heads heated about a 
woman for whom the heart must remain cold, unless it have run full speed 
from our control, and is seeking the first gate to stop at (for her heart is 
nothing but a voice, and has long ago evaporated into breath, like camphor 
in the air). I repeat, it was our own weakness and sentimentality that 
allowed us to find every thing ideal in this woman, as raw expositors do in 
the Bible ; which is all the more natural in seclusion, in proportion as we 
have endeavored to do full justice to what we do not possess ourselves, and 
the more ambitiously we strive not to be exposed to the imputation of 
stupidity, from a want of appreciation. We were blind to overweening 
pretensions (which certainly indeed did not come up to those of yesterday) ; 
lectures, which were meant for the nourishment and satisfaction of her un- 
bounded vanity, we believed to be devoted to our improvement ; literally 
the very same questions have been put to us again upon these lectures, till 
we were weary of them, and now as mechanically as if the word-machines, 
then perhaps new, were by this time quite worn smooth with use. We 
submitted to receive honor from her. However, the delusion is over with 
me — a delusion that has been dissipated simply by reflection. For she 
has done me honor now too, and no sort of neglect or jealousy has warped 
my judgment. The honor that is my due can only be conferred on me by 
men like Reinhold and Hensler, for they have it in rich abundance to be- 
stow; but not by any presumptuous dispenser of a usurped possession. 1 
will receive roses and myrtles from female hands, but no laurels ; I only wish 
that I may plant them, and then be crowned by three or five men 

X.* 

Kiel, 29M October, 1794. 

It is certain that I feel the loss of all much more deeply, now 

that I have enjoyed these lost blessings again for a short time in such full 
measure, than I did before, when I lived in complete ignorance of the 
future, and then too forgot so many things almost entirely in the complete 
novelty of my position. What I miss, and always shall miss, you know ; 
* Written after having returned from Meldorf. 



COLLEGE LIFE. 55 

and I am not sure that it is good f«c me to dwell upon it. My isolation 
— not isolation from strangers, that is salutary — but isolation from my 
own family, from those who are nearest and dearest to me in the world — 
this is what would still frequently depress my spirits, if I did not strive 
with all my might not to feel it- Tke beginning of nest month shall find 
me diligent- as intent upon banishing troublesome thoughts as upon ad- 
vancing in knowledge. Knowledge, what is commonly called learning, 
mere dull memory-work, will never be the aim of my exertions. The one 
thing needful is, to cultivate one's understanding for one's self, so as to 
Lender it capable of production. He who merely crams himself with the 
conceptions of other men's minds, clothed in forms foreign to his own 
nature, will never accomplish much. Quiet and independent energetic in- 
dustry can alone attain to what is truej and bring forth what is really 
useful 

XL 

Kiel, I6tk November, 1794. 

I am now -accustomed to my solitude, and do not get gloomy 

"when I am alone the whole evening, and work till eleven o'clock.* 

Yesterday evening I was much pleased to hear of the new plan of education 
in France. " Go thy way, and sin no more." That is all that lies in our 

power- It would heartily rejoice me if I eould some day conclude a 

history of all those horrors, with the account of measures through which a 
great nation might become happy and truly enlightened, and should live 
to witness the result of these judicious plans. . , 

Hensler cherishes views with regard to my future career, in which I can 
not fully concur. He wants me to be a natural philosopher., and to make 
the natural history of antiquity the special object of my investigations 
This is a good and worthy and beautiful pursuit for those who like it 5 but 
from the peculiar direction of my mind and talents, I believe that nature 
has intended me for a literary man, an historian of ancient and modern 
times, a statesman, and perhaps a man of the world ; although the last, 
thank God, neither in the proper sense of the word, nor in the horrible one 
that is usually associated with it. Meanwhile, my individual taste will 
certainly carry the day; and, if my name is ever to be spoken of, I shall 
be known as an historian and political writer, as an antiquarian and 
philologist. I stedy the sciences, which Hensler would make my ultimate 
object, merely as the means of procuring greater richness of ideas, render- 
ing my heart and head clear and bright, or rather subjecting my poor 
heart, which will go on sentimentalizing and blundering, to my head. 
Meanwhile, I constantly become more and more estranged from the world, 
in the ordinary sense of the term ; but the less I mix myself up with it. 
the more affectionately do my thoughts turn to you ; and I trust that some 
day, through my love, obedience, and the fruits of my honest endeavors, I 
may, if not reward you for your love, at least prove that it has not been 
thrown away. Therefore forgive me when I am prolix, and forget myself 
over ray writing. I acknowledge how much I owe to your care and affec- 
tion, and I only regret that you were not strieter and more severe with 
me : for what would have hurt and pained me at the time, would now be 
* While it appears from Letter TIL, thai he considered it late when he was 
aot up before six in the moraine. 



56 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

very beneficial to me, and I should ere this have attained much that still 
costs me an effort. Therefore I would warn every one, whose child shows 
a had disposition, to hold him in while he is young, for there is not much 
fear of breaking his spirit. His innate impudence will protect him from 
this ; and I feel, by myself, that our faults can not be torn up with too 
much violence in childhood, before they have taken too deep a root. It is 
not every one who is so deeply in earnest in the effort to overcome his 
faults as, God knows, I am. For many others, therefore, it is yet more 
necessary ; and it is better for him who has a proneness to frivolity and 
other vices, to " suffer in the body that the soul may be saved." 

XII. 

Kiel, 23d November, 1794. 
I will not deny, my dearest parents, that I was distressed and hurt by 
the undeserved tone of displeasure which seemed to prevail in both your 
letters. You are dissatisfied with me because I seek no society, or rather 
because I avoid parties But you will allow that I am at the Uni- 
versity, not to lead as pleasant a life as I can, but to turn all my time and 
powers to account. And believe me, dearest parents, it would be impossi- 
ble to be as happy in much society as I am in the feeling that my solitude 
is well employed. When I have completed my studies I will enter the 
world. Woe be to the fool who enters it before he has knowledge enough 
to compensate for its emptiness My dear parents, do not misunder- 
stand me. I do not mean to be an oddity, and I am not a misanthrope. 

If my letter has really the morose tone which you, dearest mother, 

think you perceived in it. it was certainly quite accidental. It may be 
that the strict mode of life which I impose upon myself gives a sort of 
rigidity to my manners and every thing about me, even to the tone of my 
letters. But, believe me, I am none the worse for it. I must do one of 
two things; either I must accommodate myself to the manners of our 
vicious, effeminate, and feeble age. or I must keep rny own manners, con- 
sequently my own tone and mode of thinking and speaking. In the first 
case, I may, perhaps, please a great part of my contemporaries, but cer- 
tainly not the better part, nor myself, nor posterity. In the second, I 
must indeed offend the partisans of the first, but it will be possible for me 
to live so as to deserve my own approbation, and so as not to pass away 
with the great multitude of my nameless contemporaries 

XIII. 

Kiel, 30th November, 1794. 

I spent an evening with Behrens lately, and we laid a wager. 

He asserts that within a year, more than one revolution will break out, 
and I assert the contrary. On the other hand, I have offered to lay a 
wager with him, that in four years a monarchical government will be re- 
established in France.'* I find myself constantly confirmed in this opin- 
ion as I read the English history, which I do a good deal in my leisure 
moments. If I had time, I should like to get more facts together, and as 
it is, I have found in the very rare notices which are inserted in the notes 
to Algernon Sidney's "Discourses/' and seem to be quite unknown in 

* If Niebuhr had saidjfa;^ years he would have gained his wager. Napoleon 
was created First Consul on the 10th of November, 1799. 



COLLEGE LIFE. 57 

Germany, very striking and extraordinary parallels. Unfortunately I have 
no time for employments of this kind at present ! And yet history growa 
dearer and dearer to me, so much so that my ardor in reading history in- 
terferes with my zeal for philosophy, while no philosophy can blunt my in- 
clination to history Salchow came in just as 1 Avas writing about 

him. We took up our usual occupation. I am dictating to him a short 
outline of the history of the French war. 1 am astonished at my own 
memory, for I still remember with great distinctness the merest trifles that 
have occurred from 1792 onwards. 

XIV. 

Kiel, 6th December, 179-1. 

.....This day is the anniversary of Algernon Sidney's death, one 
hundred and eleven years ago, and hence it is in my eyes a consecrated 
day, especially as I have just been studying his noble life again. May 
God preserve me from a death like his, y.t even v ■ h such a death, the 
virtue and holiness of his life would not be dearly purchased. And now 
he is forgotten almost throughout the world, and perhaps there are not 
fifty persons in all Germany, who have taken the pains to inform them- 
selyes accurately about his life and fortunes. Many may know his name, 
many know him from his brilliant talents, but they formed the least part 
of his true greatness 

What I am dictating to Salchow is not a history of the Revolution, but 
merely a brief outline of the war, and is really a recreation which serves 
to exercise my memory. This trusty servant has preserved dates for the 
last two years of which I have rarely thought a second time. Among the 
many whimsical crotchets which have plagued me from time to time, I 
once took it into my head that it injured the judgment to strengthen the 
memory, and therefore resolved to give up the latter. But nature was 
kinder to me than I deserved. I retained every thing without effort, and 
now I am as anxious to strengthen the one as the other 

My dictating to Salchow is no secret, and as my attempt seems likely 
to turn out very well, I do not care into whose hands the paper may fall. 
I do not copy it ; what I have once given forth I do not like to see again. 
It is too insignificant to be worth printing; in manuscript it might be 
useful to an officer. 

Niebuhr's intercourse, however, during his college life at Kiel, 
was by no means confined to the professors and students of the 
University, but he was admitted into a circle of the intellectual 
society of Holstein, which then comprised some of the most highly 
gifted persons of that day in Germany. 

The little city of Eutin, delightfully situated on the wooded 
shores of an extensive lake, about twenty miles from Kiel, formed 
a sort of centre to tins circle. It had formerly been an imperial 
bishopric, and was afterward secularized and transferred to Old- 
enburg, with which duchy it came into the possession of Den- 
mark but still retained a separate administration, the president 



53 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

of which at this time was Count Frederick Leopold Stolberg. 
His elder brother Christian — married to a sister of the two Counts 
Reventlow — lived at no great distance on his estates. The two 
brothers, belonging to one of the most ancient families in Ger- 
many, were both well known as poets and public men, though 
the younger was much the more distinguished of the two. The 
elder was a man of noble and pure mind, and sincere religious 
feeling, and possessed talents of no mean order, but he had not 
the originality nor the fiery depth of feeling which characterized 
Count F. L. Stolberg. The latter was full of genius, life, and 
affection, but already disturbed by the consciousness of those defi- 
ciencies in his hereditary creed and church, which led, three 
years later, to his making a profession of Catholicism. The sec- 
retary to the government was Nicolovius, afterward minister of 
public worship in Prussia, whose acquaintance Niebuhr seems to 
have made at this time, and to whom several of his letters are 
addressed. Voss was rector of a gymnasium at Eutin, and the 
amiable and intellectual philosopher and poet Jacobi, likewise 
resided there at that time. Near Kiel lived Count Frederick 
Reventlow, Curator of the University of Kiel, a man of intellect, 
integrity, and high cultivation ; a conservative in politics, and a 
strict Lutheran in religion. He had lately returned from his 
mission as embassador in London. His wife, a sister of Count 
Schimmelman, the Danish minister of finance, exercised, by her 
brilliant powers and unaffected religious fervor, scarcely less in- 
fluence over the circle of their associates than himself. The pro- 
fessors Hensler and Cramer belonged to this coterie. All its 
members were conservative in their principles excepting Voss, 
whose views, indeed, were so little in unison with those of the rest, 
that they were already beginning to divide him from his friends. 
Niebuhr spent his long vacations with his parents, but his 
shorter ones were generally passed at Eutin, on visits to Voss, 
Jacobi, or Count F. L. Stolberg. Of these Jacobi had the great- 
est influence over him. The union in Jacobi, of candor, amia- 
bility, high refinement, and calm philosophic thought, with taste 
and susceptibility of feeling, particularly attracted him. The pre- 
dominance of the moral sentiment in both, and their intense rev- 
erence for all that was exalted and holy, was a link between 
them, and Niebuhr' s letters show that there were few to whom 
he could so unreservedly unbosom himself. His friendship with 



COLLEGE LIFE. 59 

him was only broken by the death of the latter in IS 19. Nie- 
buhr also made the acquaintance, about this time of Schlosser,* 
the brother-in-law of Goethe, mentioned in his " Dichtung und 
"Wahrlieit,"' and the poet Baggesen,f whose talents he greatly 
admired, though he regretted his unsettled life and character. 
During the second year of his college life Niebuhr became ac- 
quainted with Count Adam Moltke, then residing at Kiel who 
was several years older than himself, but admitted him to as close 
an intimacy as if they had been on a footing of equality. They 
soon became bosom friends, and retained their affection for each 
other through life. Moltke is thus described, as he was a few 
years later, by the son of an intimate friend of both himself and 
Niebuhr. 

" Count Adam Moltke had lived from about the beginning of 
the present century at JNutschau, an estate in Holstein, which he 
had received as a compensation for the loss of the fief formerly 
held by his family in Zealand. Outwardly gifted with a mag- 
nificent manly figure, a noble forehead and flashing eyes, inwardly 
overflowing with energy, and rich in imagination, the principles 
of the French Revolution had taken a powerful hold of his mind, 
and for years he was among its warmest and certainly one of its 
purest adherents. After having visited a great part of Europe, 
and undergone many a bitter grief, he retired to Niitschau, where 
he strove — apart from political employments, but full of interest 
in public events — to endure the iron age in patience with a strong 
resignation. He needed but a few hours' sleep, and sought to 
still his inward restlessness by the earnest and continuous study 
of history ; in particular he made himself acquainted with the 
development of the Italian Republics of the middle ages in its 
minutest details. He often endeavored to give a poetical form to 
his mental life, or to present an historical picture of the well 
known political relations of past times, but he was unable to 
clothe the ideas floating in his mind, in shapes sufficiently clear 
and distinct, to render them fit to go forth into the external world. 
Thus it was denied him to take an active part in history either 
by word or deed ; but as in his ardent and stirring youth he had 

* Author of several papers on various subjects connected with jurisprudence, 
and the translator of Aristotle's Politics and'Longinus on the Sublime. 

t Professor of the Danish language and literature in Kiel. He had consider- 
able celebrity as a poet, both in Danish and German. His best poem in the lat- 
ter language is, "Parthenais oder die Alpenreisen." 



60 MEMOIR, OF NIEBTJHR. 

exercised an irresistible influence over every one who came in 
contact with him, so when a man he brought life and energy into 
every circle he entered. ' He had reached the perfection of his 
nature,' wrote Mebuhr, in 1806, of this the dearest friend of his 
youth ; ' he had tamed the lion, the restless spirit within him, 
and was employing his Oriental fire in the animation of Greek 
forms.' " 

Niebuhr's letters to Moltke, of which the following are some 
extracts, are all that have been preserved of his correspondence 
during this epoch. 

XV. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Kiel, Uh August, 1795. 

I went to your library yesterday to fetch Frisch, for which I thank you 
in your absence. Remember Hickes, for truly in the sweat of our brow 
must we learn our mother tongue, for the jargon which we speak is no 
longer a language. Our forefathers were better off before the Thirty 
Years' War. Then there was but one speech for gentle and simple, and 
that was German. Ours is like our jurisprudence, the Divine-Mosaic-Ito- 
man-Lombard-canonical-German-statutary code, as some one calls it. Our 
language is Greek-E*oman-Gallic-German-pix>vincial. That most disas- 
trous of wars, which made our princes absolute sovereigns, the Protestants 
of Upper Germany Catholics, and those of Lower Germany orthodox — 
which permitted the Jesuits to flourish, desolated the whole land, robbed 
the Empire of its independence, and our towns of their power — that la- 
mentable war has ruined our language forever. And this want of a lan- 
guage adapted at once to literature and popular use, is a curse that rests 
perpetually and exclusively on our nation. 

Let us deliver ourselves from this yoke as far as we can ! One man 
has done so, and the result will be, that this element of his intellectual 
greatness will cause his songs and orations to live longer than those of all 
our other German sages. I refer to Voss, whose " Luise" has lately aP 
forded me such unequaled enjoyment, that it were a sin against friendship 
on my part, if I, knowing the existence of such a masterpiece, did not in- 
vite you also to contemplate and admire it. He may be (and will be per- 
haps, for after ages) to Germany, what Homer and the most perfect of 
the Greek poets were to then nation. Did he meet with such a reception 
as they found among their unrivaled fellow-countrymen — were his idylls 
publicly recited to the people, and his songs sung in popular assemblies, 
how much might such a teacher accomplish ! He would effect more that 
was really good and great than the only true philosophy, should that ever 
be discovered. I should like to prescribe Voss and Lessing, for you and 
myself, as our exclusive aliment. Voss forbids every author but Lessing, 
whom he deems perfect, except that he wants rhythm ; he did not, indeed, 
name himself as the second, but no doubt he knows what he is, and would 
despise the false modesty of refusing to confess it on a fitting occasion. 
Forsake even Klopstock, and measure yourself by the severe standard of 



COLLEGE LIFE. 61 

those men ; such at least is my resolution. Not without reason do I 
speak thus warmly of ' ; Luise." It has done what a book scarcely ever 
did before — drawn tears of delight from my eyes. It is a striking exam- 
ple that to move the reader most deeply, the author must be in perfect re- 
pose, and the style of his whole work calm and mellowed. We can never 
sufficiently study and examine this late-born Greek. I, at least with Ho- 
mer, Sophocles, iEschylus, Pindar, Horace, and him, would willingly re- 
sign all the other poets in the world : yet this is too hastily written — I 
could not relinquish Theocritus and that German-Greek, Gessner. It will 
seem strange to you, perhaps even ridiculous, that I should pass over 
Klopstock. It has cost me much to do so, bvit if strict justice be done, I 
fear he will not stand before the Greek tribunal. I must except the most 
finished of his odes, which Alcoeus himself need not blush to acknowledge, 
were they ascribed to him, ami also the "Republic of the Learned," a 
thoroughly German work. Voss's criticism has robbed me of the " Gram- 
mar," and 1 am ashamed of the praise I once bestowed on it. But then, 
alas, the •Messiah ! ' This rigid justice is a sacrifice, and as you know 
how I revere this groat creator, or rather resuscitator, of our literature, 
you will appreciate it as it deserves. I have sat at his feet, and am at 
least not ungrateful. 

If you are frequently kept waiting for an answer when you expect one 
soon, there shall, at least, be no delay whenever business is concerned. 
So much for excuses and promises. 1 wish you health and happiness ! 

NlEBUHR. 

XVI. 

MtT.DOaF, in October, 1795. 
The service you have done me is, as you know, most essential. This 
book shall occupy not a little of my time this winter, and it gives quite a 
different insight into our language, usually treated so ignoi-antly by all 
our modern grammarians ; for who can pronounce what a certain thing 
ought to be, and what it ought not to be, without having traced it to its 
origin, and thence derived the laws of its after course? Wolf, in Halle, 
makes himself indeed somewhat ridiculous by his exaggerated praises of 
grammatical studies even of the most trivial nature, for he ascribes far 
too much of the literary disgrace of our modern times to the neglect of 
such pursuits, but there is too plainly some truth in what he says. But 
to adduce the ill-effects on their respective languages, of the rules laid 
down by the Alexandrine, and recently by the Florentine Academies, as 
an argument against all attempts to give a language fixed grammatical 
forms, is quite wrong. For these Academies set to work in the wrong 
way, they took their forms from the writers of their golden age, and iij 
every age when much has been written, and by men of talent, the lan- 
guage has swerved from its original use. But it is only from its primitive 
style that rules can be drawn why a man must express himself thus, and 
no otherwise, if he will speak Greek or German. No instance from the 
most intellectual and fertile author of the most brilliant period can justify, 
or even excuse, his successor for the use of an expression which offends 
against those fundamental laws. For the former had no more liberty than" 
I have. The case is different with secondary meanings and shades of 
meanings, which depend more on the spirit of the age. I am not bound 



62 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

to remain absolutely faithful to the sense which the most ancient writers 
may have affixed to a word ; if the sense ascribed to it by the moderns is 
more suitable, I may make use of it, and perhaps it is even the duty of an 
author to obey custom in such a case, in order to make himself intelligible. 
But it would certainly be advisable for our philosophers to examine into 
the primitive meaning of the words which they employ ; they would not 
then impose on them so much more than they can bear, and it might lead 
them to some conclusions which would render many an acute dissertation 
unnecessary. Hence I most earnestly wish to see such an examination 
undertaken, and to see it employed as the foundation, at least in part, of 
the history of philosophy. It has long been my conviction that such an 
investigation must begin from the beginning, and gradually descend to our 
own times, if it is to get behind the scenes of the history of systems and 
opinions, and I was not a little pleased to find from Jacobi, when he was 

in Kiel, that he quite agrees with me Before all things I must say 

a little more about Jacobi. He seems to me to gain indescribably by per- 
sonal acquaintance, and to display in all his manners, and his whole being, 
a noble nature, which his later writings do not show in its simplicity. 

To me this shows how a man of great endowments may fall into thor- 
oughly bad mannerism, and if this once happens, there is a danger of his 
sinking into it ever deeper. But as to the man himself, his kindness and 
gentleness, his singular urbanity, his eloquence, the grace of his manners, 
and the rich unbroken flow of his discourse, I find that none of his many 
admirers have praised him too highly; on the contrary, all these qualities 
singly and in combination surpassed far and far every expectation I bad 
previously formed. You know, or may guess from a conversation we had 
not long before your journey, that my opinion of him had been somewhat 
lowered by the judgment of men whom I respected. I silently asked his 
forgiveness for it as soon as I saw him, and still more when I knew him 
better, for I had this good fortune, and was able to ask his opinion on 
many subjects. Rejoice ! He says Fichte is among the first of men and 
philosophers, and is on the right road, &c 

While Niebuhr was on a visit to Eutin in January, 1796, Dr. 
Hensler received a commission from the Danish minister of 
finance, Count Schimmelman, to ask the young- Niebuhr if he 
were willing to accept the post of private secretary to him for a 
few years. Some of Niebuhr' s productions had excited Schim- 
melman' s interest, and he had also frequently heard of him as a 
young man of very eminent talent from his brother-in-law Count 
Reventlow, and the Stolbergs. Dr. Hensler, who was on the 
point of setting out for Eutin, took Count Schimmelman's letter 
with him, and communicated it to Niebuhr. Both he and Hen- 
sler felt some hesitation at the interruption it would cause to his 
studies ; still they both perceived the great advantages of such a 
Connection, not only as regarded his future position, but also his 
improvement in practical knowledge. 



COLLEGE LIFE. 63 

Hensler knew also, that although only nineteen years of age, 
he was sufficiently well grounded in knowledge, and ripe enough 
in understanding and character, to perform the duties that would 
devolve upon him to Schimmelman's satisfaction, and to enter on 
the great world without peril to his industry and morality. Stol- 
berg and Jacobi strongly urged his acceptance of the offer. Nie- 
bulir referred the decision unconditionally to his father. The 
elder Niebuhr, who could conceive of no pleasure so great as that 
of visiting foreign countries, had originally wished that his son 
should follow in his steps, and cany out the enterprise which he 
had himself contemplated. He became afterward convinced that 
his son's delicacy of health would prove an insuperable obstacle 
to such plans, but still wished him to travel within the limits of 
the civilized world ; and when he hoped to see him filling some 
diplomatic office, it is hard to say, whether he most desired it for 
its own sake as an honorable post in the service of the state, or 
because it would involve a residence abroad. For the present, he 
advised him to accept Count Schimmelman's offer, but only in. 
the first instance for a year, or a year and a half, so that he 
might afterward be at liberty to pursue his studies abroad. 

The offer was therefore accepted, and Niebuhr, who had to 
enter on his post at Easter, left Kiel early in the spring, in order 
that he might spend some weeks first with his parents. Moltke 
accompanied him to Meldorf. While there, he paid a visit to Dr. 
Behrens, the prefect of North Dithmarsh, and the father of his 
friend Madame Hensler. At the house of the latter he had al- 
ready been introduced, as we have seen, to her younger sister. 
He had also known Dr. Behrens for some time, and had a high 
esteem for him and his wife, but his usual shyness in the society 
of women had prevented his ever entering into conversation with 
the daughters. Now, however, he had a common topic of in- 
terest in speaking of Madame Hensler, and he soon became deeply 
impressed with the nobleness and worth of Amelia Behrens, 
though he did not express his feeling, and indeed scarcely ven- 
tured to encourage the idea that she would ever return his at- 
tachment 



CHAPTER III. 

NIEBUHR'S FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 1796—1798. 

Count Schimmelman was the son of a man who had made an 
immense fortune by contracting for the army, and was afterward 
ennobled and made a count. This second count was for thirty 
years minister of finance and commerce in Denmark, which under 
his administration enjoyed a high degree of prosperity up to the 
time of the ruinous war with England at the beginning of this 
century. The termination of the slave trade and the emancipa- 
tion of the negroes in the colonies, were owing to him (though he 
was one of the largest landed proprietors in the West Indies), and 
he was also the author of many other measures for the ameliora- 
tion of their moral and physical condition. Affairs of state did 
not, however, engross his whole attention ; he took a warm interest 
in science and art, and willingly extended help and encourage- 
ment to those engaged in their pursuit. Yet this extraordinary 
man was small almost to insignificance in person, of a nervous 
and sensitive temperament, and so retiring and humble in his 
manners that a stranger would have fancied him quite oppressed 
with diffidence. His house was the resort of all who were dis- 
tinguished for talents or cultivation, whether foreigners or resi- 
dents in the city. Copenhagen itself was perhaps at that time in 
its highest prosperity ; its trade was extensive and flourishing ; 
the government was greatly respected both at home and abroad. 
Commerce was carried on with great activity ; travelers from all 
regions, and natives of every part of the globe, were to be seen 
there. 

On his arrival in Copenhagen, Niebuhr was received by Count 
Schimmelman with a friendliness which at once inspired him 
with a very agreeable idea of his new position. His first im- 
pressions were not contradicted by his further experience. In a 
short time he had so won the esteem and confidence of Count 
Schimmelman, and discharged the duties intrusted to him so 
completely to his satisfaction, that the count had hardly any 
secrets from him, and used to converse with him openly and 
familiarly on the weightiest matters of state. Others also sought 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 65 

his society, not only because lie Mas a favorite with SchimmeJmau, 
but for the sake of the more than ordinary life and interest which 
his intellect and vivacity imparted to general conversation. His 
position in Schimmelrnan's house, and the consideration which 
his father enjoyed, gave him access to the houses of the highest 
families and the most distinguished officers of state and scholars 
in Copenhagen, as well as those of the principal merchants. 

At first, JNiebuhr was highly delighted with this new world, 
bat ho soon found that society took up too much of his time, and 
interfered with the calmness as well as the leisure requisite for 
study during the hours that Schimmelman did not require his 
services. The consciousness that he was thus wasting his time, 
and the self-dissatisfaction that ensued, affected his health and 
spirits, but he now found it difficult to draw back. This was 
particularly the case with regard to the parties at Schimmelman's 
house. The countess, who had delicate health, and on this ac- 
count usually excused herself from attendance at court, and visits 
out of her own house, was nevertheless extremely fond of society, 
and apt to require rather too much attention from her acquaint- 
ance. She invited Niebuhr to join in her parties, which! he at 
first did very willingly, but when, feeling the necessity of econo- 
mizing his time for better objects, he gradually withdrew, it 
produced an unpleasant state of feeling between him and the 
countess. This lasted so long as he remained in the house, and 
rendered his position there often extremely uncomfortable, but 
after he had left it, the offense was forgotten, and he continued to 
see her on the footing of an intimate friend. 

In the month of August, however, the Prime Minister, Count 
P. A. Bernstorff, offered him the post of supernumerary secretary at 
the Royal Library, with no salary in the first instance, but with 
permission to travel abroad after a time. He at once accepted 
this offer, but in compliance with Count Schimmelman's request, 
remained in Ms service till the count could find a suitable person 
to take Iris place. As Sclrimmelman was not able to do this for 
some time, Niebuhr continued to act as his private secretary till 
May or June, 1797. 

Niebuhr had accepted the post at the library, in order to extri- 
cate himself from the w T hhipool of society into which, he had been 
drawn, and to have the power of laboring with less hindrance in 
those fields of science to which his taste still chiefly inclined. He 



R6 MEMOIR OF NiEBUHR. 

partially succeeded in this attempt, but not to the extent he had 
hoped. His talents ibv public business were already so conspicu- 
ous, that Schimmelmaii often intrusted commissions to him, 
which he always willingly undertook ; and he was also disturbed 
in his pursuits by attractive oilers from other quarters. For in- 
stance, he writes to Mrs. Hensler as early as August, 1796, "I 
have received from France, the offer of a post of literary activity, 
which would have involved an immediate journey to Rome. How 
much there was against the thing you will see yourself. I in- 
formed Schimmelmaii of it, who saw what attractions it held out 
to me, but at the same time was not blind to its disadvantages." 
On Mrs. Hensler's expressing her fears about plans of this nature 
in such perilous times, he replies in September, " It appears to me 
that you see more cause for alarm than really exists. At any 
rate, I decided long ago not to venture on this seductive step. 
How indeed could I bear to live so far from all who are dear to 
me — among a nation to whom in general I have an aversion ? 
A wish was afterward expressed to see me in the suite of the 
next Danish embassy to Paris, without any suggestion of the kind 
on my part.^ You know that this accords with similar wishes 
of my father's. For the present, however, I have declined the 
proposal. You know that I am appointed secretary at the library. 
This is exactly what I could have wished ; it releases me from 
obligations which haft been imposed upon me over and above my 
personal duties to Schimmelmaii — from waste of time — from all 
bustle and distraction — gives me the hope of living with Conrad 
Hensler this winter, and of going abroad next year to prosecute 
my studies with all earnestness. How much I mean to profit by 
this journey, and feel that I neerl to profit by it, I have already 
told your father Dr. Hensler." 

Niebuhr remained therefore during the winter of 1796-97, at 
Count Schimmelman's, in his former position. In the course of 
this winter he frequently saw Baggesen, with whose intellect and 
geniality he had been already charmed when in Holstein, but 
whose instability of character both in thought and action he 
always deplored. 

In the spring he left Count Schimmelman's, and hired apart- 
ments in the city, but remained on his former terms of friendship 

* Probably by Grouvelle, who was at this time the French minister in Copen- 
hagen, and who tried much to attach Niebnhr to himself. 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. Bfr 

and intimacy with the count. As a proof of the esteem in which 
lie was held by him, it may he mentioned that in August, 1797, 
Schimmelman offered him the situation of Consul-general in 
Paris during the war. His official duties in this post would prob- 
ably have led him to visit the southern provinces of France, and 
a portion of Spain. Before Xiehuhr had fully decided whether to 
accept it or not, the place was applied for by a man whose years 
and length of service entitled him to consideration. The greater 
quiet and freedom from interruption in his new situation Avas very 
beneficial to Kiebuhr. In August, 1797, he paid a visit to his 
friends in Holstein. He first went to Kiel, where he spent a 
fortnight, and met Amelia Behrens almost daily at the house of 
Dr. Hensler. The impression which she had made on him a year 
before was renewed and deepened. His secret wishes could not 
escape the eye of Madame Hensler. She spoke openly to him on 
the subject before he left for Meldorf, hegged that while there he 
would seriously examine his feelings and his position, consult his 
parents, and regulate his conduct toward her sister accordingly. 
The following letter he wrote to her in reply : 

XVII. 

Meldorf, ZQlk August, 1797. 

Yesterday was the fourth evening since our conversation — a conversation 
which will remain eternally imprinted on my memory. Since then, I have 
not only visited a new place, which till now has always been enough to 
run away with my imagination, but have also revisited those spots, which, 
from the number and vividness of my associations with them, were wont 
to banish for a time all other thoughts. I have seen my parents and sister, 
my acquaintances, and our friends, the Voss's — but the remembrance of 
those last hours is still fresh in my heart, as at the first moment of our 
parting. 

I never grieved more at having reached the end of a happy time, and yet 
never felt so full of joy and hope as in these last few days. You and your 
friends made me very happy while I was with you. I told you my sorrows, 
and you comforted me ; I rejoiced with the purest joy in the affection and 
virtue of my beloved friends ; they were all crowded together in Kiel, and 
knew and loved each other well. You brought me nearer to those, who, 
though the dearest on earth to you, were as yet almost strangers to me. 1 
felt that my friends loved me, and I had no thought beyond the present ; 
at last, dear friend, you did more than this ; you had guessed my wishes, 
and seen that I dared not express them ; you gave words to my timorous 
thoughts, and in so doing suffered me to cherish them. What a change 
fox one who had before stood alone, and looked on solitude as his doom ! 

At every moment that I have had to myself for reflection, I have pon- 
dered on the idea, and asked myself whether the reality would be as happy 
s the prospect was entrancing. I found the question very simple, and the 



68 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

answer was, ' ; Were I to obtain the blessing of wliieh I am not yet worthy, 
I should have more than I ever ventured to desire, and my happiness could 
only be disturbed by my own fault!" It is not necessary to know your 
Amelia long. Can one help believing in her at first sight ? Why should 
I repeat what you know already, that her presence gave me such unspeak- 
able, heartfelt delight ! The first speaking glance of her clear, beautiful 
eyes, her richly-cultivated mind, that reveals itself so simplyand unassum- 
ingly, almost timidly ; her purity, her tenderness, shine out in all her words 
and motions, and would be evident to one less susceptible than I am. 
I see no shadow, not even a cloud, to dim this sunshine, when I think only 
of myself. 

Your objection that Amelia is nearly three years older than I, and that 
even equality of age is in general undesirable, is I think inapplicable in my 
case ; — and then I have two remarks to make as regards myself : — First, 
that two years of strenuous endeavor, during which the possibility of the 
new position you have pointed out to me, would fill my mind with pictures 
of a happy future, would resemble hot, sunny, fertilizing days, in which the 
fruit which has long hung green and hard upon the tree, rapidly receives 
color, perfume, and ripeness ; without metaphor, that these two years would 
make me worthier of Amelia. Secondly, that the advice of a wiser friend 
has ever been invaluable to me, because I am apt to neglect the small duties 
of daily life ; • this you see in our friendship, and how much more with such 
a being if she were wholly mine ! But I dare not think too constantly about 
it, for the more vividly I picture to myself such unclouded happiness, the 
more painful becomes the doubt whether Amelia will ever consent to unite 
herself to me. Just what makes me see that in a connection with her I 
should gain a sure guide, and many wounds of my heart would be gently 
healed — namely, her decidedly superior maturity of character — must pre- 
vent her from thinking of me. We all strive after something above us, to 
support and elevate us, and will she alone be unable to estimate her own 
worth in comparison with others' ? 

I wait with impatient desire for your next letter. I wonder whether you 
have as much hope as when we parted, or whether you will advise me to 
suppress the beautiful thought before it grows into an unconquerable long- 
ing. 

After staying three weeks with his parents, he returned to 
Kiel. The following letter to Moltke shows with what result. 

XVIII. 

Kiel, October, 1797. 
Dora and I send you and your wife this messenger, because we can not 
bear to wait several days before writing to you, especially as our letter 
would be a long time on the road ; so you will receive this before another, 
that Dora wrote to you two days ago, which announced as close at hand 
what has now really taken place. I am in far too great an agitation to 
say much. Each of you take one of our letters: Dora's will tell you the 
most. Yesterday evening, at Dora's house, Amelia decided in my favor. 
Her heart had already decided. Love can distinguish between truth and 
pretense. She assumed no girlish affectation when Dora gave words to 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 69 

feelings that had before scarcely expressed themselves, and joined our hands. 
This pure simplicity, this Roman decision, in a gentle heart, made my hap- 
piness perfect, and made it possible. A long time of trial, full of doubt and 
uncertainty — servitude to win a love, that can not be sustained by gal- 
lantry and pretty flatteries, but must take root in the heart — -would either 
have frightened me away, or harassed me to death; and yet one scarcely 
sees any thing else, except where the suitability of the connection is calcu- 
lated, and every thing negotiated by the papa and mamma on each side. 
I long considered this servitude as the only means of becoming intimately 
acquainted with a girl, for the gulf, which custom and our folly have placed 
between young men and women, seemed to me impassable. And so it 
would have been to me, had not Dora's heart and Dora's wisdom allowed 
me to follow my nature completely. I know that I have earnestly endeav- 
ored not to deceive Milly. In our conversations when we met, I spoke to 
bet from my inmost heart, and took pains to discover to her, what, if con 
coaled, might have deceived her, and made her very unhappy hereafter; 
for I thought myself bound not to deny what still clings to me from former 
evil times as a stain to be washed out ; but I hope to God, that happiness, 
and the power of love, this new unknown force, and above all, the contem- 
plation of the proud joy in her angelic heart, and an openness that will 
rather gain than lose through absence, will purify me before we can be 
united — for absence is before us. The letter Dora wrote to you the day 
before yesterday will have told you all about it. It is inevitable, and you 
will not misunderstand me when 1 tell you, that I do not now view it with 
dread. who could feel themselves separated, when in spirit and in love 
they are so inseparable ! I embrace every effort, every toil, every sacrifice, 
for all will render me worthier of my Milly. It is true we have a long 
future before us, but who knows how it may be shortened '.' And if I, who 
have not your equability, can not promise Milly your evenness of temper, 
your constant warmth, I can promise her inviolable truth, and ever-growing, 
exclusive love. And woe to him who does not repose with full confidence 
upon the truth of a pure-hearted maiden ! I shall assuredly know neither 
suspicion nor jealousy. And she who equally possesses both our hearts, 
our Dora, who can now live wholly for us, and is through us brought back 
to the world, will unite us by the rarest bond. Thank you, dearest of 
friends, as much as it is possible to thank, for the kind solicitude that you 
shared with Dora. My heart was sealed up, and my courage gone. Many 
a pretty face, and here and there a bright creature, had given me a pass- 
ing pleasure, but only once had the thought of a connection risen vividly 
before my mind ; and when the event made me angry with the maiden and 
despise myself, yet consider myself happy that the delusion was over, my 
heart seemed quite dead. I believed no longer in that energetic feeling 
which irresistibly fixes our destiny. 

.... Milly has a Ptoman character, and this was always my ideal oi a 
citizen's wife ; pride, intellect, the most retiring modesty, unbounded love, 
constancy, and gentleness. In history we only meet with such women 
among the R,oman matrons — the Calpurnias, Portias, Arrias. Soft, weak, 
tender girlishness, would neither have elevated nor strengthened my char- 
acter. I must stop. This is too confused, and I must go and take these 
pages to Dora, and then go to Milly and her mother, who willingly con- 
sents. Farewell, 



70 MEMOIR OF K1EBUHR. 

The following is an extract from a letter of Conrad Hensler's 
to Niebuhr, on this occasion : 

"Dearest Niebuhr, doubly and trebly do I wish you joy. I could fo;m 
no slight expectation of your choice, but it is far exceeded. So much in- 
telligence and affection, such purity of mind and clearness of judgment, such 
depth of feeling, such overflowing affections — such as your Amelia is, so 
ought she to be who is to be your companion for life. How beautiful is 
her seriousness — even her reserve ! She does well to maintain her reserve, 
for if she breaks through it, her feelings overflow. So self-relying, so un- 
exacting. and yet such delicate and tender feelings, such fullness of affec- 
tion ! With what sweet open cordiality she greeted me — she who formerly 
was so reserved and distant ; it was so visible what a claim it gave me 
upon her to be your friend. And when I saw her again, when she was 
cheerful, even merry (your letter had arrived), how beautiful was the smile 
on her countenance !" 

After Niebuhr' s return to Copenhagen, he continued to fulfill his 
duties as librarian during the winters of 1797-98, and also dili- 
gently carried on his own studies in private. As his wishes still 
inclined toward a professorship in Kiel, where he hoped to lead 
the quiet and studious life most suited to his disposition, he di- 
rected his reading at this time principally to philological and his- 
torical subjects. 

His letters to his betrothed show that, though no longer suffer- 
ing from unsatisfied aspirations of the heart, his over-active intel- 
lect occasioned him many hours of depression and lassitude. Un- 
conscious of the disproportion between his mental and physical 
powers, he exerted the former without regard to the latter ; and 
when experiencing the natural consequences of such a course in the 
loss of mental tone, he reproached himself bitterly for indolence 
and want of proper discipline of the mind. He found a still 
stronger source of dissatisfaction with himself, in the belief that 
from the inadequacy of his education in childhood, and his too 
early introduction into the distractions of the great world, his mind 
had received a wrong direction ; that the creative faculty which 
requires self-concentration had been lost, and but poorly replaced 
by the power of acquiring and elaborating the ideas of others. He 
seems to have thought that his mind, which might have been a 
lamp, had become a mirror. 

The following extracts from his letters will serve to illustrate 
this period of his life : 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 71 

XIX. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Written in April, 1796, at Copenhagen. 
It is rather through accident than fault of mine, dear friend of my heart, 
that you have had no letter yet worthy of the name. Yours of the 25th 

of March did not reach me till the 8th of April I can not imagine 

who has given himself the trouble to interrupt our correspondence, for an 
inexplicable delay has taken place somewhere. As long as no letter had 
arrived from you, I hesitated whether to write or not, and the following 

reasons decided me to wait I wanted you to know all about my 

situation here. At first it promised wonders. I was very happy, though 
not so much as with you at Kiel. I was made much of, my work was 
easy, and I got on well with it. I was treated like a friend, and found 
myself in a family, whose head, at least, commands my deepest reverence. 
Then the variety of people whom we see here, afforded me a fund of enter- 
tainment, though I could not help despising most of them. One seea 
queer puppets here. To write to you then would have been like writing 
in a fit of intoxication or a dream. The intoxication has evaporated, and 
the dream is fled. What I say to you now, is what you will always hear 
from me : I am quite convinced that, as matters stand, I could not have 
had a happier lot than that which has fallen to me. Not a happier, for 
whether a different turn of events — the obligation and the leisure to devote 
myself to hard study — might not have been more tcholesome for me, is 
another question. Such a vocation would at least have conduced much 
more to my peace of mind. That this is now often much disturbed by the 
nature of my position, that I have a thousand temptations to yield to a 
frivolous vanity, a detestable desire to please ; that there are numberless 
amusements to entice me ; that the tone universally prevalent among the 
people with whom I have to do, allures and tempts me to ease and indo- 
lence, you will readily conceive, and will forgive your friend if he should 
now and then go astray. Yet you will understand, and indeed you told 
me long ago, that good-fortune had done every thing possible for me in 
this situation. A pleasant life, Schimmelman as a friend and instructor, 
freedom from all pecuniary cares during my youth, the best opportunities 
of being initiated into statesmanship with Schimmelman, of advancing in 
scholarship, by means of the library here ; it is my own fault if such 
advantages remain tmimproved. But they are like precious gold-mines, 
that rarely lie on the surface of the earth, and require much toil to bring 
their treasures to light. I did not believe at first that it would be so 
difficult to profit as I ought by these gifts of fortune. This was my 
dream, the illusion of my intoxication. I over-looked the hindrances. It 
is not Schimmelman, nor the work he gives me to do, that takes up my 
time and worries and harasses me. I really do not regret being obliged to 
stay at home every evening from eight till eleven, because of the society I 
meet there. But what does vex me now (at first it was neither so bad in 
itself nor so noticeable) is that our reading is so often interrupted, so uncon- 
nected, that such precious time is thus wasted. Even the heartfelt delight 
I have in Schimmelman, and all that he says, can scarcely make me for- 
get it. I often laugh at the countess's plans and speeches, especially her 
philosophical discourses ; seldom let them provoke rate ; never talk with 



72 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

her on philosophy. What annoy me most are our parties, especially the 
stiff, lifeless, horribly aristocratic, state assemblies, though these do not 
come very often. Perhaps I shall manage to get excused from them alto- 
gether. All the time they consume is utterly wasted. I think you can 
hardly imagine how I love that noble Schimmelman. For you do not 
know him but by daily intercourse, by living with him from morning to 
night as I have done for this month past ; from morning, when we work 
together, to night, when we read together. His integrity, his cheerfulness, 
his really great intellect, his freedom from prejudice, his consistency — ought 
I not to esteem myself most happy in having all this daily before my eyes 
as a model of excellence ? One thing that I particularly like in him is his 
habit of acting without much talk. The only thing that I should wish to 
see altered in him is that he should be more careful of his time. He has 
a great quantity, of work, it is true, but he does not know how to econo- 
mize the time that is so invaluable. Hence also, business gets into disor- 
der, and he feels more over-burdened than he really is. I have become 
acquainted with Grouvelle, and have the freest access to him. He speaks 
of you with the interest of a friend, and the admiration of an upright and 
enlightened man. How we made acquaintance with each other, and got 
so intimate the first day, that he did not even wait for a request on my 
part to open his house to me, I must reserve till my next letter which you 
shall have a week after this, if God permit. If possible write to me. 

XX. 

Copenhagen, 23d April, 179G. 
I have just found from a letter of Hensler's — and it has given me a 
painful surprise — that your wedding took place on Wednesday, therefore 
without your having let me know one word about it. This breach of 
promise on your part has wounded me deeply and painfully, so that I 
hardly know whether to be more grieved or angry. I not only, when on 
my journey, stole time from sleep to write to you ; I wrote to you also on 
the first morning that I spent here, and when, after a three weeks' delay, 
I received a short answer, I sent you in return a letter which was at least 
much longer, and, however much it might be wanting in arrangement, 
elegance of style, or profound thoughts, certainly expressed the warmest 
friendship. And you have not even time for two lines to enable me to 
celebrate your festival ! You chose an earlier day than you told me — 
you made it impossible for me even to guess that it was to take place so 
soon. You always said that you would let me know when your marriage 
• lay was fixed. You told me so many times. How am I to explain this, 
Moitfce ? For amid the joy that your happiness really gives me, I still 
feel the sting of deeply-wounded friendship. Have I displeased you? 
Have I offended you by act or omission ? Truly I am conscious of no- 
thing, and if any thing of the kind had happened would willingly wash it 
out with tears, or my blood. Do you blame me ? Then why now, more 
than at any other time ? Once you loved me ; did you not allow me to 
lay open my faults before you, when I would not suffer you to think better 
of me than I deserved ? What has opened your eyes so suddenly, and 
why would you not open them before ? I know in my conscience that I 
never wished to deceive you. I love you deeply, with all the strength of 
my heart, with a love that will stand all trials, and will never conceal 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 73 

our friendship, even in the midst of your hitterest enemies. This I have 
already shown here, but not all who call themselves friends do the same. 
In spite of my impatient desire for letters from you, in spite of our wish 
and resolution to hear often of each other's welfare, in spite of your re- 
proaches when you thought mc careless in writing, I am left in ignorance 
of the most important day of your life, and even now know nothing of it, 
but from others ! I thought I perceived a visible coolness in the only 
letter you sent me here. Moltke, I love you ; I am jealous and eager 
for your love. Can any one have stolen it from me? Explain yourself, 
and let us not become cool or mistrustful. You would despise me if I 
were to permit such an injury to pass unresented ; but I should despair of 
all friendship if you could mistake the spirit of this letter. No, you are 
no hypocrite ; you never dissembled. At our last parting, your heart was 
certainly mine, for you said so. I entreat you, make all clear between us. 
I love few as I do you, but if it must be, if I must lose you, an open, 
bleeding wound were better than a hidden one, than a disease of the soul 
which would at last fill the whole heart with bitterness, and the mind with 
night. Am I unjust to you? No, for I accuse you of nothing. Fears, 
anxiety, mortification, are not accusations, but you must answer me as 
quickly as possible, within three days at the most after receiving this let- 
ter, or I shall hold all my fears for truth. Through your silence you have 
not received the " Nedham," the token of my joy at your union. Did you 
wish not to have it? I am so vexed and unhappy that it is impossible 
for me to speak a single word of joy. Do not be offended at my warmth. 
Only set my mind at peace, and I will write to you immediately ; but first 
of all, I pray for God's blessing on you and your wife, and give my love 
to her who has certainly no part in your fault. Niebuhr. 

XXI. 

9th December, 1796. 
What do you ?ay to the moral tone of our poets ? Our philoso- 
phers and scholars have long since distinguished themselves in that re- 
spect. But Schiller's Almanac for this year ! ! ! It is a comfort to me to 
be able to share my exasperation at it with Baggesen ; for all the rest of 
the "literati" here are unanimous in its praise. The Germans admire its 
wit and raciness, the Danes find so much " smag" in it, and such " deylige" 
verses.* The lady at our house is of the same opinion, and is never weary 
of extolling it, though, perhaps, she does so chiefly to provoke Baggesen and 
me. Do you know Falk's Satires? the prayers in the last Gottingen 
Musen- Almanac,! and another in the Deutschen Merkur ?J If you have 
read them, did you not rejoice in the hope of a German Juvenal ? And 
has not your pleasure been converted into indignation by the scurrility and 
the hackneyed witticisms of his "Pocket Book?" It is time to attack 
this evil very seriously. I write to you about it, because I could fain do 
it myself. Do you in Holstein read as little as we do here ? It seems as 
if the literature of Germany were visibly on the decline. Schiller and 

* Smag, taste ; deylige, charming. 

t Published by the celebrated Poets' Club [Dichter Yerein] at Gottingen. 
numbering among its members Voss, the Stolbergs, Burger, Holty, Muller, &c. 
Boje was its editor for some time, afterward Burger. 

% Edited by Wieland. 

D 



74 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Goethe are worse than dead. Wieland's Agathodsemon is insufferable. 
The new generation is dwarfish. Is Voss to stand alone ? Even Klop- 
stock has by no means distinguished himself in his last production. 
confess it, Moltke ; the bloom of our literature is over, and, besides the 
usual course of nature which has proved itself the same in all nations, it 
is the French revolution, our infamous policy, and shameful undervaluing 
of our own people, the want of cultivation among them resulting from this 
general indifference, and the desecration and shocking abuse of philosophy, 
that have brought us to this wretched pass. Innocence and light-he arted- 
ness have vanished. I must break off, dissatisfied with what I have writ- 
ten. I have been on the point of tearing up my letter, but I will venture 
to send you the stuff, for I have a presentiment that our correspondence 
may suffer a long interruption, and I really feel as if I must write to you. 
I wanted to add : — and we can only make satires to mock our own degra 
dation, or a history that would have the effect of a satire. This afternoon 
Kirstein, who much admired the Almanac, has had the candor to send me 
the masterly review of it in the Niirnberger Zeitung. Give yourself the 
pleasure of reading the avenging article. I shall copy that, and not write 
another word against the gentlemen. Baggesen entreats your wife for an 
answer. I have understood, dear Moltke, how happy you are going to be ! 
I rejoice with you in your happiness, and in the thought of what an ex- 
cellent father you will make. Dear friend, we shall have but a short time 
together next summer, but I should like to have a few days alone with 
you. I enjoy the very thought of it. I shall at least enjoy them by anti- 
cipation. We shall hardly go to Italy together now. Probably you will 
not even visit Switzerland ? 

XXII. 

EXTRACT FROM AN UNFINISHED LETTER TO HIS PARENTS, 
PROBABLY NEVER SENT. 

Copenhagen, 5th March, 1797. 

. < You will not be sorry to hear, my dear parents, were it only as 

a good testimonial of your son, that notwithstanding the short time which I 
am able to devote to Persian, my progress is very considerable ; that in 
ordinary authors I can already understand the sense of whole periods, and 
have only to contend with single words, for which the Dictionary gives 
several meanings, among which the sense must decide. It will please 
you too that Ludolf is extremely well satisfied with me, and even finds his 
expectations exceeded, so that, with the help of Arabic, he now thinks it 
possible for his pupil to acquire such a close acquaintance with the Persian, 
as at first he always represented as quite unattainable. But you will be 
still more glad to hear that Ludolf shows himself more and more a warm 
and sincere friend, as he perceives the success of his undertaking, and that 
he removes, by a thousand little marks of his good will, all the scruples 
which I might otherwise feel at such an apparently unnatural connection 
as that between a man of his standing, and a young scholar as yet undis- 
tinguished. He not only takes a sincere pleasure in forming a connoisseur 
and student of his favorite language, it gives him delight even to have 
some one with whom he can converse about his general reading (for though 
not ignorant of European literature, he is not well versed in it), and still 
more, to be able to describe with enthusiasm, yet without fearing to make 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 75 

himself ridiculous, his youthful years in Constantinople, which place he 
much prefers to Europe. 

But I shall only allow myself to fancy that all this may give you half 
as much pleasure, my dearest parents, as you have given me in consenting 
to my plan of going to England next year. The necessity of being bur- 
densome to you is certainly more unpleasant to me than to you ; but your 
ready consent, and the conviction that so it is best, set my conscience at 
ease about the matter. I shall, therefore, next summer (if a devastating 
revolution has not broken out in England first) read and make extracts 
from the seven or eight folio volumes of Mirchond, in the Radcliffe library 
at Oxford, read as much as possible of the more or less important Persian 
classics which are preserved there in great number, and write notices of 
them which may lay the foundation of a Bibliotheca Pcrsica. As it is im- 
possible, between now and then, to gain more than a mere school-boy 
knowledge of Arabic, and as it is besides by no means advisable to try to 
embrace everything, I shall devote all my attention there to the Persians. . . . 

It is a great pity that you, my dearest parents, will always persist in 
fancying that the praises I bestow on Persian literature proceed from par- 
tiality only, and are not deserved. If I could but translate something for 
you, or lay before you English translations ! Hafiz has been compared to 
Anacreon, and it has been considered a great compliment to him ; but 
the pseudo-Anacreon, who is commonly read for the genuine one, and even 
the few remains we have of the real poet, are not to be compared with some 
of the best odes of the poet of Schiras, selected in the Asiatic Miscellany. 
In general, the Persians stand far behind the Greeks. Firdusi has natural 
disadvantages from the immense length of his poem (of 60,000 distichs 
at least, four times as long as both the poems of Homer) and from the 
circumstance that he wrote in rhymed, decasyllabic iambics, which we 
must take into the account if we compare him with Homer. But is it not 
extraordinary enough that it is possible to compare him with such a poet 
even if he loses by it? The excessive grammatical freedom of the Per- 
sian language, and its corruption with Arabic, are very injurious to it ; 
still no language is so sweet and fascinating. 

I will now tell you of a proposal which will not be indifferent to you, 
and I hope not disagreeable. 

Since the war, which has ruined the commerce of England and Hol- 
land in the Levant, there is an opening for Denmark to carry on a trade 
there, particularly from the port of Altona ; and it is hoped that the peace, 
or rather the treaty of subjection to France, will riot injure these prospects. 
For this object, consulates are in course of establishment in all quarters 
of the Levant ; and as a consul is to be appointed at Constantinople as 
well, with a liberal salary moreover, Schimmelman has proposed to me to 
fill this office, after a time, for a few years, in which he has perhaps been 
chiefly actuated by Ludolf s earnest assurances that the school of the East 
is in that city. On my return the desired professorship would certainly be 
given me. 

You see, my dear parents, that I lay this project openly and honestly 
before you, and leave it to my dear father to discern for himself, and com- 
municate to you in particular, dearest mother, the great advantages it 
presents. Without taking Ludolfs assurances that people there are much 
happier and better than in Europe for much more than the expression of 



76 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

a warm and tender heart, and well knowing that ju3t what must make 
that place so peculiarly dear to him, parents and home, is an objection to 
every one else ; yet I must put it to you, whether, for a young man who 
is fond of antiquity and has made it his study, a life of some years in 
Greece (through which my way would lead me, after I had spent a few 
months in Portici, which I could examine more in detail on my return), 
would not be the most desirable thing imaginable? Whether Constanti- 
nople, in whose great library are preserved all the extant works of value in 
the Persian language, and which would afford me living practice in writing, 
speaking, and intercourse with the natives, would not be much more in- 
teresting than, for example, a European capital ? And whether it would 
not be very advantageous for a young man (and this is no slight consider- 
ation) who has had the misfortune to be known too early, and has thereby 
become more inconsistent, more showy, and less solid than he ought to be, 
to find such a retreat, where he might acquire greater serenity and a more 
complete cultivation of mind ? What outward things society, intercourse, 
civilization, and the like can give, I have, to a considerable extent, enjoyed, 
and am not wholly unthankful for it ; but my inward cultivation, during 
many periods of my life, has been unhappily only too much neglected. 

I am, however, particularly glad that it is not to be for long, but only 
for a few years. Schirnmelman can not be at a loss for a consul there, 
and so we may reckon upon it with certainty, that no forced prolongation 
of my stay can arise from this source, which would otherwise, I think, be 
the greatest objection to the plan. It is true letters take a month in 
going from here, or from Holstein by way of Vienna, before they reach 
their destination ; and it would be still more impossible to wait for an- 
swers there than it is between Copenhagen and Meldorf. But if it is true 
that we have no advantages without corresponding disadvantages, and 
that we always must submit to this condition, we ought not, I think, to 
condemn such a plan on account of this circumstance, as, on account of 
the quieter life I should lead there, I should certainly be able to write, in 
comparison, more to you, and more interestingly than I do here. So tell 
me, dearest parents, what you think about it. 

XXIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Copenhagen, 8^ July, 1797. 
Schirnmelman had a favorite idea lately, which he was extreme- 
ly anxious to carry into execution. He read me an excellent paper that he 
had written upon the subject. He wished, namely, to make known the 
actions of the Government in the most complete and authentic manner. For 
this purpose he wanted to set up an official journal, uniting correctness 
with a high moral tone, and announcing the measures proposed by the Gov- 
ernment, their adoption as laws, all important acts of the executive, par- 
ticularly all the appointments to offices, perhaps the names of all the candi- 
dates, giving at all events a trustworthy account of the one chosen, and of 
all the leading questions of the day, &c. Such a paper, circulated gratis 
through the whole country, could hardly fail of producing the effect that 
Schirnmelman hoped and intended, of bringing more life into the relation 

of the subject to the Government You may see by this how little 

Schirnmelman keeps to the beaten track. 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 77 

I spent a delightful evening with him yesterday, and staid very late. 
We could not get away from each other. It was a most lovely summer 
day ; the soft air — the heauty of the sea-shore (and it was the first time 
this year that I had gone that way) — the sense of having performed a task 
really worth doing, and of use to Schimmelman, to whom I was bringing 
it — a serene and happy mood that has hardly been interrupted since our 
last parting — a strong attraction toward Schimmelman himself — all this 
happy combination of circumstances completely took possession of me, and 
put me into the brightest state of mind. I could feel sure too that I gave 
pleasure to my noble-minded friend. 

XXIV. 

Meldorf, 24tk August, 1797. 

At last I am able to announce to you the decision of my political 
fate.* 

In order fully to understand, and to give lectures upon ancient literature, 
and ancient history, which forms a part of it, it is, in my opinion, abso- 
lutely necessary that I should have read through all the ancient writings 
still extant, at least once, with the closest attention — the more important 
works many times — and acquired a living and familiar acquaintance with 
each period. There may possibly be some exceptions to this rule in the case 
of special sciences, which must forever remain a mystery to the uninitiated. 
This undertaking was carried out by Milton long ago. There would scarcely 
be found many to do it now, but it seems to me that it is what I undoubt- 
edly ought to attempt. 

A profound and practical acquaintance with the grammar of the two 
classical languages must be obtained, partly by means of the various treat- 
ises on that subject, and partly from the literature of the languages them- 
selves. A systematic philosophy, as the groundwork of all settled convic- 
tions, and all accurate thought ; what is perhaps still more important, 
method in thinking, writing, and studying ; added to these, various exer- 
cises in the art of composition, and a thorough command of our mother 
tongue, are indispensable requisites for any one who steps forth before the 
public, and seeks to obtain a high standing. It is no more than a man 
demands of himself. 

These then are the preliminary tasks that I should have to execute, be- 
fore I could accept a professorship in Kiel without a blush, and discharge 
its duties without disgracing or overworking myself. As one can not do 
every thing, and, least of all, prolong one's preparations ad infinitum, it 
appears to me that other studies which H. and my father wish me to un- 
dertake, must only be carried on in subordination to this object. 

I have, perhaps, already reminded you of Hume's example, who, in or- 
der to bring his mind, which had got into confusion in consequence of an 
ill-regulated education, into the right track again, and to strengthen his 
powers by peaceable seclusion, lived unknown for several years in La Fleche, 
and then came back another man from what he was when he left home. 
Now, it is true it would be presumptuous to institute a comparison, which 
would allow me to hope for such results as proceeded from Hume's talents ; 
and besides, he and I should have different requirements and ideals of hap- 
piness ; but an analogy may nevertheless subsist. 
* See page 66. 



78 MEMOIR OF NIEBT7HR. 

I do not think of traveling so long as three years. 

What do you say to my spending this winter in Kiel, as I am no longer 
bound to my post in Copenhagen either by duty or interest ? It would 
be no mere pretext, and no doubt a decisive argument with Schimmelman, 
that if I go back and resume my former mode of life, my health will return 

to its former indifferent state . . In Kiel, as my father knows, 

I should be able to carry on all my studies with the aid of Hensler's 
library 

XXV. 

MeldoRF, 27tk August, 1797. 

I can not help writing to you again to-day. You know that my emo- 
tions are apt to carry me away with their violence. Thus your letter has 
made me so wild with delight that I have felt full of affection to every 
creature that has come in my way 

My father, my dear father, clings with such conviction and firmness to 
the idea of some journey or other, that he would consent with reluctance to 
an earlier settlement in Kiel. He would consent, for he would be ready to 
sacrifice any thing to me now. I, too, can not help believing that if it were 
possible for me to win such an affection as might deepen into a heartfelt 
willingness to unite herself eternally with me, absence and distance, cheer- 
ed by such a prospect and trust, and unremittingly devoted to my cultiva- 
tion, could be only beneficial to me. I should see a foreign country, and 
must be a gainer by it. A somewhat lengthened preparation for the holi- 
est society, when one has been already long accustomed to think of one- 
self as engaged, must, it seems to me, have great advantages. And so 
many of my present deficiencies I might strive to supply. Dear friend, I 
should not like to owe any thing to fortune, to her prepossessions hi my 
favor, nay, not even to your sisterly interest in me. You will surely not 
misunderstand me here. What we do not possess in and through our- 
selves, is not truly ours. I will strive and toil not to be unworthy of your 
sister, and to deserve, if I can not win her affection. So much is in my 
own hands. 

The idea shall not have uncontrolled sway ; the annihilation of a ruling 
passion that must be conquered, is too terrible, and the higher and intenser 
its life, the more convulsive is its resistance to extinction. And must I 
not fear the possible necessity of its extinction ? Its seat in my heart is 
light and warm, my life is joyful and deep, my mind open to all, all that 
human love can embrace. 

The first few days, my mother showed some annoyance at the length of 
my stay with you, and she was displeased too with my carelessness in dress, 
and my refusal to pay all sorts of visits. But the mother's love soon pre- 
vailed. Her affection for me was always vehement, and therefore always 
exacting. I have told you that I have inherited the vehemence and sen- 
sitiveness of my disposition, together with my features, from my mother. 
To-day is my birthday, and all my family have greeted me with the warm- 
est affection. One word more about my sister. She seems to me so 
wcrthy of love, that she must win yours too some day. 

Farewell 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 79 

XXVI. 

Meldorf, 31st August. 

You accuse me of a propensity to idealize. 

I am sorry that you do not give me credit for sufficient true-heartedness 
to love the Beautiful devotedly without the necessity of coloring it more 
highly by any imagination. If it were as you say, I should be fated to 
turn perpetually to new objects, till cold experience gradually taught me 
better, and warned me against such folly with bitter mockery — till I sank 
into hopeless misery. Such a warmth is not that of life but the unhealthy 
and transitory glow of fever. 

If I have any thing to thank nature for, her best gift to me was a cor- 
rect and very rapid judgment, a facility in detecting every thing false, in- 
correct, untrue, that can hardly be imposed upon. While I am ready to 
adopt any well-grounded opinion, my inmost heart revolts against receiv- 
ing the judgments of others respecting persons, and whenever I have done 
so, I have bitterly repented of it. 

Manly worth, elevation of intellect, and enthusiasm, are to me the no- 
blest things on earth, superhuman, and the best pledge of our higher des- 
tination, heavenly origin, and divine illumination. I can not worship the 
abstractions of virtue — she only charms me when she addresses herself to 
my heart, speaks through the love from which she springs. I am not 
blind to the faults of those I love, because I do not speak of them. Either 
faults cease to exist where there is true excellence, or they are only imper- 
fections. I have never fancied any one perfect, indeed I have rather been 
liable to err through mistrust and suspicion. I really love nothing but 
what actually exists : virtue, love, sincerity, purity ; where these are, what 
more need I seek for ? I believe that where these qualities are irradiated 
by the joyousness of innocence, and fortified by a clear, active, cultivated 
intellect, we have, without any idealizing, the only thing that remains to 
us from the golden age 

If you reveal my wishes to Amelia, you must let her know that she ia 
not the object of a blind passion — that it is my first endeavor to acquire 
her esteem. 

XXVII. 

Meldorf, 6th September, 1797. 

Even while I was writing my last letter to you, I began to feel the sort 
of stupor and gloom creeping over me that I have on my dark days. 
Whether this is physical, or whether the dazzling brightness of a succession 
of happy days is necessarily followed by a fit of exhaustion, when external 
circumstances do not feed the flame, is a mystery to myself. I have at 
last succeeded by strenuous efforts, in driving away the blackest clouds and 
to-day your welcome letter has kindled a fresh life-giving spark within 
me. 

But all my life this inequality of spirits has been my torment. When 
ever I have worked hard, of course I mean in special investigations which 
only serve as means to an end, or amidst the confused heap of materials 
required by some other object, I seem as if paralyzed. When a few days 
have elapsed, and my new acquisition has fallen into its place, then comes 
my brightest time. But meanwhile I am good for very little. 

The lot of the scholar working amidst his books is a wearisome one. 



80 MEMOIR OF NIEBITHR. 

He is ever treading on the brink of pedantry, a yawning chasm, in which, 
if we were laughing on the subject, we might say he would be buried in 
dust and dead leaves, if he made a false step. He has to extract honey 
from wormwood. He must constantly keep his mind on the stretch ; can 
only succeed by slow degrees in his task of self-culture, and measures 
every thing by an ideal standard, which he is often unable to attain from 
the poverty of his materials — still oftener from his own want of talent. 
Sciences which are entirely based on speculation, such as philosophy and 
mathematics, are free from this disadvantage ; and all occupation with 
them refreshes and quickens the mental powers, when one has fairly got 
into their spirit. Neither are those liable to get depressed by their studies, 
who collect and compare, often without the least philosophy, single inter- 
esting things, such as natural objects. But he who studies grammar, and 
rhetoric, and style, seeks and deduces rules and laws, or learns those that 
others have found, which are indeed important to him as regards the re- 
finement of his taste, and perhaps something higher, but which are so dry — 
taken singly, for the most part so unimportant — must constantly stim- 
ulate his ardor, and keep his affections in play, or he will be in danger of 
either relaxing his exertions, or acquiring a mechanical pleasure in mere 
words. In the study of history there is a much higher species of interest. 
But its immense extent, the difficulty of imprinting all that is needful on 
the memory, the almost greater difficulty of steadily maintaining a cor- 
rect point of view, the toil of collecting the most interesting fragments 
from innumerable books and relics, while conscious of their incompleteness, 
the repulsive task of wading through an immense amount of what is bad 
(though in this respect people generally of their own free will do more than 
is necessary), until at last you have so far reduced all to order, that you 
can begin to mould the mass into a beautiful form (which it takes years 
to do) — these preparatory difficulties almost overpower any one who per- 
ceives them. 

I have long attributed to this cause, and to the still worse state of the 
professional sciences, which have long been an empty husk, the inertia of 
the best intellects among us. The life of the ancients in small States, was 
like that in a large family.; even Rome itself was, in reality, as a State, 
confined within its walls, and to the spots consecrated to the popular as- 
semblies, notwithstanding the enormous extension of its boundaries. 

War and the discharge of public functions were extremely liberal occupa- 
tions, and it was considered that good sense and practice were sufficient 
qualifications for either. Then there were very few, whose minds had not 
been developed by the active discharge of these functions, which were not 
confined, any more than learning, to a particular class. We see nothing 
among ourselves that can be compared to the indefatigable power and 
activity of the ancients. They were at all times men and free citizens. 
We are obliged to make a special class of learned men ; and, in conse- 
quence, we lose sight of the world, of active life, of the best part of our- 
selves, of reality ; and cling to book-knowledge alone. A few escape this 
fate, to whom their kind genius has given the good fortune and the energy 
to separate the kernel from the shell, in spite of all difficulties, and to keep 
their hearts warm and active. 

The ancients invented the sciences; the elements of which were not 
diffused among the vulgar, producing a shallow knowledge ; men sought 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 81 

for insight in converse with sages, and there were only two kinds of knowl- 
edge, the common and the philosophical. We lose the simple aspect of 
nature long before we are able to comprehend the expositions of philoso- 
phers. We hear, as children, that the earth turns round the sun, before the 
words can convey any idea to us ; for the senses will not suffer the imagin- 
ation to grasp an image of such magnitude. It is the same with every 
thing. On all hands there abound crude doctrines, patchwork theories, 
assertions on authority. 

It is impossible for us to see as clearly as the ancients did. And then 
their philosophy of human affairs does not satisfy us : we rack our brains 
and split hairs, and, after all, do not think. Why were they so free from 
the monstrous absurdities by which we are surrounded ? 

I have wandered far from my subject, but all that I have said has a 
bearing upon it 5 for what I mean is, that there are two things which have 
a very mischievous effect upon my mind — the disadvantages of my occu- 
pations, which are, nevertheless, the only ones open to me in these days, 
and my own inequality of temperament. 

I must tell you a little about my life here. My friends evince 

the deepest affection for me ; but I am almost frightened to see the exag- 
gerated opinion my father has of me, and his propensity to look upon all 
his aspirations for me as so certain of accomplishment, that he regards 
every difficulty I see in the way as mere nonsense. One trait that is com- 
mon to all of us, has often deprived us of many a happy hour, we are too 
apt to be irritated by opinions opposed to our own, and, instead of testing 
them, either to reject or be persuaded into them. You may find in this an 
explanation of many points in my character, particularly my habit of has^y, 
passionate condemnation. 

XXVIII. 

Meldorf, 18th September, 1797. 

I have written a tremendously long letter to Desaugiers* about 

the unhappy revolution in Paris,! and endeavored to set in the clearest 
light the merits and the innocence of the now proscribed party, and the 
black guilt and inexpiable crime of the triumphant faction, with all the 
force of language and logic at my command. It is the only homage which 
a remote foreigner can bring to oppressed virtue. This has cost me much 
time and paper 

I am quite decided not to go to Paris at present. It is a lucky thing 
for me that the post there, which was offered to me, has fallen to another 
candidate. I could neither endure the sorrow of seeing such a complete 
triumph of villainy over virtue, of barbarism over intellect and accomplish- 
ments, nor yet of listening to the shameless insults and groundless impu- 

* The French Charge d' Affaires at Copenhagen. 

t The Revolution of the 18th Fructidor, when the democratic majority of the 
Directory, alarmed by the growing influence of the moderate and monarchical 
sentiments in the nation, which threatened the ascendency of the violent Jacobin 
party, resolved to overturn the Constitution, surrounded the Councils of Five 
Hundred and of the Ancients with troops, dispersed the majority of the members, 
annulled the motions unfavorable to their interests, and condemned the leaders 
of the opposite party, including most of the men of genius and principle in 
France, to transportation to Guiana. The immediate results of this revolution 
were the abolition of the freedom of the press, and of the institution of juries, and 
the re-enactment of the laws enjoining the banishment of the nobles and priests. 



82 MEMOIR. OF NIEBUHR. 

tations heaped upon the proscribed by their victors ; and as little could I 
submit to the degrading humiliation of associating with men whom I 
abhor. 

XXIX. 
TO AMELIA. 

Copenhagen, Uh November, 1797. 
Your remembrance and your image, thank God, are always present to 
me. Hence my solitude depresses me less than it ever did before ; hence, 
in society, I feel more strange, embarrassed, and unsympathizing than 
ever. The first is good, but the second frightens me, and I feel that it is 
not right. Schimmelman and Prehn are the only persons with whom I 
speak of you. No one else has any idea of our engagement. A greater 
change has taken place in my character than at any former time. I shall 
certainly be further than ever from foolish and unworthy conduct. Till 
now, I have been very idle. Strictly speaking, nothing has yet been done. 
Of course, I am never quite without reading. Homer, Plato, and Cicero 
lie before me ; but I have only read a little of Homer. The constant fogs 
and clouds prevent me from going on with astronomy. Here, too, I per- 
ceive with humiliation the bad effects of my long continued careless inob- 
servance of nature, and feel the necessity of a tolerably intimate acquaint- 
ance with phenomena before proceeding to science, at least, if I am to learn 
it independently and with insight. Beyond the first evening I have not 
had any pleasant time yet with Schimmelman. We have been interrupted 
by strangers. I am fairly besieged with invitations; but I have now an 
object, and work toward it without suffering myself to be drawn aside. I 
owe it to you that I am infinitely more tranquil than I ever was before. 
You will certainly change your wavering, restless friend into a firm, calm 
man, worthy of your love. 

XXX. 

llth November. 

I have had numerous invitations. You know that I did not wish 

to see Grouvelle again, and certainly meant not to visit him. This I kept 
to, and should have continued to do so, but he, not to be repulsed, sent my 
friend Desaugiers to me, with an invitation ; and, moreover, with strict 
orders to bring me back with him. He has once since then forced me to 
come to his house in the same way. I confess that I have no pleasure 
even in my intercourse with Desaugiers, though he has an excellent heart, 
because he is always occupied with ideas which have become abhorrent to 
me, since it has grown so evident that the fearful tragedy is issuing in a 
disgusting farce, as if in both halves it were played by devils. I plainly 
declare that I do not wish to have any thing to do with Grouvelle, whose 
society was once sought by all the refined and intellectual world of Paris. 
I feel that such intercourse does me no good. It is dazzling outwardly, 
but hollow, mere empty talk ; it goes against my conscience. Nothing but 
the impossibility of escaping from it without an open breach, has made me 
put up with it so long. My staying away, making difficulties, or giving 
downright refusals, would have made any one else give me up as an 
obstinate fellow. Desaugiers has here no more intimate friend than 
myself; perhaps not even among his early acquaintance. But here the 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 83 

difference between the friendship of our circle and that of foreigners is most 
striking. The life and food of our intimacy is the communication of our 
iinnost thoughts, absolute confidence, constituting an individual relation. 
But between foreigners there is nothing but a higher degree of kind feeling, 
if help is wanted, openness and confidence ; otherwise, the attention of both 
is only directed to outward objects. The relation is easily broken, and may 
be dissolved by a neglect in the degree of attention. 

XXXI. 

TO HIS PARENTS. 

Copenhagen, 2d January, 1798. 

I will not begin my first letter in the new year to you, my dearest 
parents, with general wishes for your happiness, for you will take these for 
granted, knowing them to be ever in my mind ; but with wishes for the 
health of us all, for an uninterrupted harmony of feeling, and for external 
prosperity. With regard to the last, I have for some time past felt much 
inquietude, which I no longer hide from you, since the moment of decision, 
one way or the other, is daily approaching. Probably rumors of a French 
expedition against Hanover and Hamburgh may have reached Holstein, 
even the newspapers have alluded to it, and it has long attracted our 
attention. We can scarcely picture to ourselves, in all then details, the 
frightful consequences of such an enterprise r but it would be childish not 
to see that the French, after coming so far to destroy English commerce, 
would inevitably require us to close the Sound to all English vessels, and 
place a garrison in Friedensburg to insure our compliance. However, no 
salvation could have been looked for from a continuance of the war, if the 
late King of Prussia had lived. His death, combined with the great im- 
pression which the conduct of Austria made on Germany, awakened at 
first great hopes ; and we ventured to look forward to seeing a powerful, 
well-supported Prussian army on the Rhine. Nor were we deceived in the 
disposition of the young king ; we must not call him cowardly and weak 
because he surrendered the last yet unconquered fortresses on the frontier 
of Germany, for his kingdom is as yet unprepared, and, at the first out- 
break, the enemy's forces could occupy all Lower Saxony and Westphalia 
before any opposition could be offered by a Prussian army. Thus all 
persons here, who are informed as to the movements of the great powers, 
live in a state of the most anxious expectation. An army is forming, all 
officers and soldiers on furlough are recalled, and Magdeburg placed in a 
state of defense. If France makes a sudden incursion, Prussia will scarcely 
venture upon a war for the recovery of Hanover. If Prussia has time to 
prepare, will she not require all the assistance from Holstein which the 
latter can afford, after having already contributed to the defense of the line 
of demarkation ? 

And is not the cause of Hanover and Hamburgh our own ? Must we 
not submit to every demand of France, when she has possession of these ? 
Will she not occupy Holstein, even though we may endeavor to satisfy her 
by submission ? Thus fearful is our position as long as France holds her 
present views. And it is not probable that she will give them up as long 
as the war with England lasts. And a termination to this, by means of 
a fair peace, seems at present hopeless. The congress of Rastadt may de- 
cide the fate of Hanover ; but even if the dangers now threatening us are 



84 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

diverted for a time, it is but too probable that, at a future period, we may 
find submission to France the only means of saving the existence of our State. 

So the most earnest wish for us all must be peace, and the independence 
and inviolability of our soil. Holstein, which contains all that is dearest 
to me in the world — you, and those whom I have made mine by choice — 
and which will, perhaps, be the scene of my future life, is unquestiona- 
bly in danger. If we can gain time, it is certain that a courageous resist- 
ance — let it be understood, a resistance to which we bring our utmost re- 
sources — might preserve our soil from devastation, and all we love from the 
horrors of war, and so fearful an enemy as the French armies of the Rhine ; 
and no less certain that we can not in any case lose more than by sacri- 
ficing Prussia, if Prussia is willing to rise. 

But if we choose this plan, we must count the cost of all our sacrifices, 
and make an unalterable determination not to survive disgrace 

XXXII. 

Copenhagen, 30th January 1798. 

The kind manner in which you, my dearest parents, have received my 
account of Moldenhawer's proposition has given me great pleasure.* My 
last letter renders any further details unnecessary, and you will there find 
all your questions already answered. 

It has rejoiced me to see that you, dearest father, express a just indif- 
ference as to the kind of appointment I may receive, provided that it af- 
fords us a sufficient income, and a sphere of action at once useful to others 
and congenial to my talents. My engagement has placed me in a nar- 
rower circle and led me to renounce all plans involving uncertainty as to 
results, a great length of time for their execution, or a residence in any 
distant country ; thus freeing my mind from many chimeras, and unset- 
tling yet impracticable projects, and fixing my thoughts with infinitely 
greater earnestness on what lies near at hand, and the use I can make of 
it, in my time as well as in my occupations. 

We can not now build castles in the air, to be realized in some distant 
future — of a residence of some years abroad during my youth, which should 
procure me cultivation and polish almost without effort on my part. My 
travels can now — and in this light I have always viewed them myself — 
be only diligent study on an ever changing scene 

XXXIII. " 

Copenhagen, 2<2 February, 1798. 
I shall therefore decline Moldenhawer's offer unreservedly. I am now 
most anxious to hear your opinion of Schimmelman's proposals, which have 
at least this recommendation, that they come from a man who, I may 
almost say, loves and trusts me as a son, who has my welfare at heart, 
and who is capable of sympathy, affection, and enjoyment to a degree 
very rarely to be met with. In accepting them I should, it must be con- 
fessed, involve myself in government business, but only partially so, and I 
could easily withdraw as soon as a chance of a professorship in Kiel offer- 
ed. Business of this kind is not new to me, and presents no difficulties. 

* Niebuhr here refers to an offer that he bad received of the chair of ancient 
languages and literature in a philological academy about to be founded in Den- 
mark. 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 85 

For the chief talent I possess, or have preserved, besides that of memory 
(and, indeed, it is the cause of the latter), is a very quick comprehension 
of the matter in hand, a correct and clear perception, which almost inva- 
riably seizes at once on the true state of the case. This saves me an infi- 
nite amount of time, and as we should restrict our society to a very nar- 
row circle, I should still have leisure enough not wholly to lose sight of my 
favorite pursuits. 

Amelia would wish my journey to be shortened, and I agree with her. 
England, and at the most two or three months in France, now full of vain 
glory over her triumphs, will furnish me with sufficient instruction, and a 
vast field for observation. But time must decide for us on this point. 

You ask after my health, dearest father. For some time it was not as 
I could wish — my head was unusually heavy and stupid. My labors in 
the cold halls of the Library brought on another attack of my complaint. 

I have re-arranged and supplied the deficiencies in one portion of the 
historical department. But my health is not so bad as last spring, when 
I was imprudent enough to go straight to work in the halls of the Library 
heated and lightly dressed as I had come from Count Ludolf's.* Some- 
times, too, I read there extracts of works which I can not well take home 
with me ; thus I have lately read parts of Theophanes, and Luitprand 
on the Byzantine Empire, and yesterday meditated on some passages of 
Xenophon concerning the Greek tactics, which I have been studying among 
other things this winter, and of which I have obtained a tolerable concep- 
tion, especially those of the Macedonians and Lacedaemonians. 

XXXIV. 

TO AMELIA. 

Copenhagen, 3d February, 1798. 

How will you bear my asperities and all my faults? There 

are defects of temperament which can scarcely be conquered. My irrita- 
bility, my egotism, is of this kind. To efface these without filling their 
place with any other feeling produces apathy and injures the character. 
Love may conquer them. To be strong in love is the only way to become 
noble, and all softening through education, which is not based on love, is 
merely pernicious. I remember that I was terribly passionate in my 
childhood, but being often reproved for it, strove with such success to at- 
tain indifference, that for a time I was as if dead, and only by degrees re- 
covered at all a vivid feeling of real injuries. It would have been better 
to have let me alone, till nobler feelings had replaced this vehemence. 

XXXV. 

TO HIS FATHER, 

Copenhagen, 13th February, 1798. 

In the great world here every one lives in a constant round of 

gayety, and the same is true of the other classes, according to their differ- 
ent ranks. Business is hurried through, to leave time for amusements. 
These form the staple of conversation, and one party furnishes the poverty- 

* The Austrian embassador, who had kindly assisted Niebuhr in his Persian 
studies. 



86 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

stricken materials for another. Next to these, politics possess the strong- 
est interest, yet even they not a very vivid one. In some houses they are 
the all-important topic, and swallow up every thing else. One would 
think there could now be but one voice on these questions, that the Gal- 
lomaniacs must be silent, and the arch-aristocrats descend from their 
claims and their credulity, but unfortunately it is quite the contrary. The 
former ignore all the excesses of the French government, and openly re- 
joice in its overweening power, while the latter are filled with ^discrimin- 
ating anger. 

Thus it is impossible to agree with either side, and to avoid the dislike 
of both. For my part I really do not seek disputes, though my position 
has exercised ray lungs, my tongue, and my logic considerably. 

The apprehensions, of which I lately wrote to you, dearest father, may 
apparently be laid aside for the present. The firmness of the King of 
Prussia seems to have diverted the French from their project of occupying 
Hanover, and without ceremony taking it away from the King of England, 
according to the same rule of force by which they seize on every thing that 
excites their desires. Probably, too, the consciousness of their irresistible 
strength, as it has induced them to make some temporary concessions, will 
enable them to exercise coercion at any future moment as successfully as 
at the present. Who knows that they are not hoping to find some ground 
of quarrel with Hamburgh, by means of their commissioner in that city, 
and that they "may not yet bring forward at Rastadt a demand for the se- 
questration of Hanover ? for as they treat justice with contempt, they in- 
variably contrive to throw the blame of the failure of their attempts at 
peace on their adversaries, whereas their own requisitions are always un- 
precedented, and such as the opposite party can not concede. To hear 
such conduct defended, and the principle advocated that the utmost possi- 
ble increase of their power is to be desired — a principle whose partisans, 
though for the most part hypocrites themselves, talk as if the right were 
exclusively on their side, and calumniate and misrepresent the opinions of 
their antagonists — is, indeed, perfectly intolerable. I am very curious to 
see whether any of our convoyed vessels will be captured ; whether the 
defense of our ships of war will be regarded as a crime ; whether requisi- 
tions will be made to Hamburgh to close the Elbe, and expel all emi- 
grants, and similar demands made to this country ; whether Grouvelle 
will be sent as minister to Sweden, and Leans-Bourdon, the thoroughly 
Jacobinical commissioner at Hamburgh, be made embassador here in his 
place — all possible contingencies, and all dreadful to us. 

I foresaw the absorption of Switzerland. As to England, I am in a 
state of doubtful expectation. I do not believe in a naval expedition 
against her. Would it were true ! for a dozen barges filled with bombs 
would infallibly destroy the monster, if it were not dispersed or shattered 
by the waves. The good fortune and boldness of the French causes me 
much more alarm. Several squadrons, starting from several different 
points, and consisting of a multitude of armed vessels of all kinds, might 
attack the English coasts at the same time ; could they succeed in land- 
ing troops every thing might be feared from the bravery and discipline of 
their soldiers, the unserviceableness of the English forces, and from the 
rebels in Ireland, and the traitors in England 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. 87 

XXXVI. 

TO AMELIA. 

Copenhagen, 2d March, 1798. 

As I was standing here about noon, the sun shone so warmly into 

my dull room, and the sky was so brilliantly blue above the high roofs of 
my neighbors, that I could not refrain from going out into the fresh air, 
which I have not tasted for a long time, and not desired for still longer. 
The air was even more refreshing than I expected, and allured me on and 
on, though there was as yet no sign of life in grass or tree, no sign of rich- 
ness or beauty. There is a great charm in the mildness of early spring, it 
affects the feelings so gently and soothingly. You reminded me once, that 
the first time we saw each other at your father's, I told you of my dislike 
to bright winter days. This feeling is still invincible, and the cloudy au- 
tumn, and the depth of winter, whose shadows invite to social pleasures 
and to meditation, are as dear and welcome to me, as the shivering spring 
is disagreeable. The latter, indeed, generally brings sickness to me, for the 
unhealthy air after the rough cold winds of winter, and the exhaustion of 
my solitary toils, is more than I can stand ; and then, too, nothing is so 
hateful to my eyes as the dead earth in the glare of light. Certainly we 
ought not to allow ourselves to be too much under the control of such im- 
pressions, but one can not entirely get rid of their influence where they are 
very strong. 

XXXVII. 

TO HIS PARENTS. 

6th March, 1798. 

I have only spoken warmly of Souza two or three times to you, and yet 
he has gained a very high place in my affections. 

Perhaps it falls to the lot of very few young people to have advances 
made to them by so many of the most remarkable men of the day as my 
good or evil genius has brought me in contact with ; and no one has dis- 
played more cordiality toward me, a more decided wish to contract a last- 
ing friendship with me, than this most amiable man. Jacobi had pre- 
possessed him in my favor, and Schimmelman had strengthened the im- 
pression ; thus he saw me through my friends' eyes. I have by no means 
availed myself of his advances to the full extent, but I have nevertheless 
seen enough of him to love him heartily, and to possess full intimacy with 
him. 

He has a great amount of information, is a very good speaker, has seen 
a great deal, is a very thinking man, and has withal, the very agreeable 
characteristic, that by the kindness of his manners, nay, even by the noble- 
ness of his physiognomy, he draws out those with whom he converses, so 
that with him you find, you can not tell why, that you have a much greater 
flow of words, and more available thoughts, than in ordinary conversation. 
Unfortunately he has been recalled hence very quickly, and goes on Friday 
to Hamburgh ; I am uncertain whether to engage in business of his own, 
or to enter on a dangerous mission from his court, for on this subject he 
observes a silence that I have no right to break. My journey to England 



88 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

pleases him much ; he has visited that country, and has a real attachment 
to it, though not so strong as he once had. He has given me a letter to 
one of his friends, Sir Thomas Rivers, and offered me one to Lord Lana- 
downe, and one to Mr. Wyndham, in order that I may be personally ac- 
quainted with the English minister; but I hesitate about making use of 
the last. Sir Thomas Rivers is a great scholar. Count Rantzau gives 
me a letter to William Roscoe, and I reckon on having letters from you to 
Schonborn, Rennell, and Russell. Moldenhawer gives me introductions to 
Watson, Former, Ford, and Bryant ; and Torkelin has offered me one to 
Lord Moira 

XXXVIII. 

Kiel, 13th May, 1798. 

The weather was beautiful when I got to Hamburgh, and when I 

inquired at the coach-office for Jacobi's, a note was handed to me whose 
contents were equally delightful and unexpected, for it contained an invita- 
tion to stay at his house ; thus the main object of my journey was much 
facilitated. But this offer stood in the way of other plans, for how could 
I stay away any length of time from Jacobi, after he had treated me with 
so much kindness 

I hope I have learnt much from Jacobi this time, his society is more 
improving than that of any other man I know ; he treated me like a broth- 
er, and my conversations with him are among the best hours of my life. 
Souza was equally affectionate. Klopstock was unchanged, and delighted 
to see me. We arrived here yesterday. The Henslers remain in town 
till Friday. The Vosses arrive this evening, and we shall most likely go 
with them to Eutin. We shall visit Moltke afterward. 

To these letters may be added a few extracts from Niebuhr's 
Diaries, which are calculated to throw light on his character 
during this period of his life : 

Probably written in the autumn of 1794. 
" I made it my first occupation to-day to pursue my meditations on what 
experience and reflection have shown me to be the daily duties of pure 
morality and wisdom, and to note down what should serve me as a guide 
and rule. This new essay is to be instead of that which I wrote in the 
spring, and of which I am now almost ashamed, though I do not like to 
destroy it. On the other hand, it is a cheering witness to me that I have 
not worked in vain, but have really advanced in goodness and knowledge. 
How weak I was this spring ; how governed and led by passion and vague 
opinions ! I could not say positively, / will ; I was obliged to make it 
conditional, and so accomplished nothing. Now, I do not ask myself 
whether I can do a thing, I command myself to do it. I hope I have by 
this time brought my passions tolerably under control. Vanity is now 
the chief enemy that I have to contend against, and absence of mind ; 
uninterrupted work is the best defense against both. In this, therefore, I 
must not relax, and hence must be on my guard against society and dissi- 
pation." 



FIRST RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN. -89 

A page, written probably in the spring of 1797, contains the 
following passages : 

" I have been too remiss ; I must be more strict with myself if 1 am to 
reach my goal with honor." 

" So long as we receive what is delivered to us, with the ears and eyes 
rather than with the understanding, we can not survey it with rapidity and 
insight ; hence, also, depth and comprehensiveness of view are impossible. 
Words are the dangerous shallows that so often obstruct my progress. 0, 
what will help me to inward, voluntary, deep thought ? What will break 
the talisman that still keeps me spell-bound under the yoke of imagination?" 

" One hour, at least, every morning to be devoted to clearing up my 
thoughts on a given subject. 

" Two hours to mathematics, algebra, chemistry, natural philosophy. 

"An extensive knowledge of facts ; astronomy, mathematical and phys- 
ical geography ; these are the rational and scientific basis of political ge- 
ography, ancient as well as modern, and of history. 

" General laws of material nature, and meteorology. 

"Description of natural objects, animal, vegetable, and inorganic. 

" Distinct consciousness of the rules of my moral being. Philosophy. 

"As my historical study, to work out the chapter on chronology and 
chronometry ; also (before my return) that on grammar. 

" The problem is to get through the greatest quantity possible each day, 
taking care, at the same time, not to overstrain the power of application. 

"1. To avoid all that taxes the powers fruitlessly ; all dreamy activity. 

"2. Self-examination; clearness of thought ; accurate definitions; ex- 
ercises of the imagination. 

" 3. Diligent reflection ; weighing the work performed ; zeal ; to harden 
myself against effeminacy." 

In another paper, probably written rather later, which, as it is 
said to be intended only for his own eye, can not be inserted, he 
expresses "the holy resolve, now more and more, to purify his 
soul, so that it may be ready at all times to return without fear 
to the Eternal Source from which it sprang." 

There are several papers of a similar kind in his diaries, which 
express the purest resolves and purposes of a noble youthful soul ; 
and through all there breathes the spirit of the purest morality, 
and severe self-judgment. 

After passing the winter in Copenhagen, he returned to Hol- 
stein, in April, 1798, in order to spend a few months there before 
setting out on his travels to England. His chief aim in going 
thither, beside the general advantages of a residence in a foreign 
country, and the further prosecution and extension of his studies, 
was to brace up and strengthen both his mental and physical 
energies, in preparation for active life. He felt that the one 



90 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

needed bracing, since from never having been obliged to regulate 
his habits according to those of others, except during the short 
time that he was at Count Schimmelman's, he had become too 
dependent on the little details of life ; and the other, in order to 
counteract a certain one-sidedness in his cast of mind that had 
caused him to neglect entirely the study of natural objects. He 
felt that he stood, so to speak, outside the world of realities ; — 
that nature and human life — the various functions of civil life 
which are closely connected with the internal economy of the 
State, were unknown regions to him, which it was necessary for 
him to survey before he could take a comprehensive view of the 
relations of the external world, and of the various conditions of 
humanity, either as a scholar or a statesman. 

His three months' stay in Holstein passed away very happily in 
the society of those who were dearest to him on earth. 



CHAPTER IV. 

NIEBUHR'S JOURNEY TO ENGLAND, AND RESIDENCE IN LON- 
DON AND EDINBURGH, FROM JUNE, 1798, TO NOVEMBER, 1799. 
—VISIT TO HOLSTEIN, AND APPOINTMENT IN COPENHAGEN, 
MAY, 1800. 

Toward the end of June Niebuhr sailed from Cuxhaven, to 
which place his father had accompanied him, and landed, after a 
tedious voyage of more than a week, at Yarmouth. 

Of Niebuhr's residence in England, we have no account but 
from his letters to his betrothed ; no others of that date have been 
preserved. Those to his parents, which were so unfortunately 
burnt, contained many details of general interest respecting En- 
glish political and civil institutions, the character of the nation, 
and remarkable individuals. The letters to his betrothed are of 
a more personal character. They afford a general view of what 
he learnt during his absence, and the advantages he derived from 
it ; and, above all, a delineation by his own hand of the inward 
workings of his own mind, and the characteristics of his nature, 
from which we can see how thoroughly he knew, and how severe- 
ly he criticised himself, and watch the struggles of a noble spirit 
to realize its highest aspirations. 

In his journal there occurs the following list of the aims which 
he wished more especially to keep in view, during his stay in 
London : 

c; 1 will strive to obtain by reading and inquiry. 

1. A more complete notion of the constitution of England. 

2. A fuller acquaintance with its topography. 

3. A knowledge of the ordinary measures, weights, prices, &c. 



4. Information 

tinguished 
5. 

6. 

7. 



10. 
11. 



especting the character, talents, and lives of dis- 
persons. 

literary institutions, education, schools. 

mode of life of the different classes. 

imposts. 

army and navy. 
! banks and trade. 

: literature of all kinds, authors ; publishing trade. 
; East and West Indies. 



92 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

In Dalrymple's library, to make catalogues of the Hindoo books under 
the following heads : 

(a) Those concerning the Hindoo nation, 

1. Matters relating to antiquities, history, and national character. 

2. History of the provinces and of the Mogul Empire. 

3. Modern history since the fall of ditto. 

4. Descriptions of single provinces. 

(b) Those concerning the Company, 

1. Its charter and privileges. 

2. Its direction, trade, and European affairs. 

3. Its establishments in the East Indies, their constitution and ad- 

ministration." 

Niebuhr became acquainted with many distinguished men in 
England and Scotland. The first friendship which he formed hi 
London was with the aged Schonborn, who resided there at that 
time, and acted sometimes as Secretary of Legation, sometimes as 
the Danish Charge d' Affairs, of whom a spirited and well written 
memoir appeared in 1836, entitled, " Schonborn and his Contem- 
poraries." He was a very original man, of remarkable talents 
and information ; profoundly versed in ancient and modern sys- 
tems of philosophy, and familiar with the ancient writers on 
mathematics and natural philosophy. He had been for four years 
Danish consul at Algiers ; was a contemporary and friend of 
Klopstock and the Counts Stolberg, and known in his earlier 
years by several poems in the Pindaric style, which appeared in 
the Deutsches Musseum and other periodicals. At a later period 
he returned to Holstein, where he retired into private life. His 
friendship with Niebuhr subsisted till his death. At the time of 
which we are now speaking, it was the depth of his intellect and 
the uprightness of his character which won Niebuhr' s respect and 
attachment ; it was not until a later period that his young friend 
learnt to estimate the warm affection which flowed in the depths 
of his soul with almost youthful enthusiasm, while outwardly he 
appeared cold even to indifference. 

Niebuhr had letters of introduction to many of the political 
characters of that day, as well as to most of the noted men of 
letters. He only availed himself of a few of the former class, but 
the latter procured him almost every where a friendly reception 
through the reputation which his father enjoyed in England. 
Those with whom he became most intimate were, in England, 
Rennel, Russell, Marsden, Banks, Dalrymple, Mallet du Pan, and 
some others, but especially Wilkins, who had been, from 1760 to 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 93 

1766, iii the civil service in the East Indies, was one of the 
founders of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, and has since acquired 
celebrity by his grammars and lexicons of Sanscrit and other 
Oriental languages, and his translations of various Oriental works. 
In Edinburgh, where he entered himself as a student at the Uni- 
versity, Niebuhr's chief friends were, Playfair (with whom he re- 
newed his acquaintance at Rome many years after) — Coventry, 
Robinson, Hope, Gregory, Home, Rutherford, "Walker, Grant, who 
had long resided in the East Indies, and above all Mr. Scott, an 
old friend of his father's in India. He became acquainted with a 
great number of his fellow-students, but formed no intimacy with 
them ; there were only two among them, named Moorhouse and 
Lambe, to whom he became really attached. His acquaintance 
with the English men of letters was only slight, owing to his 
visiting London during the summer months, when nearly all of 
them were absent. 

He always retained a great predilection for the English nation. 
Their great consistency of character, their general strict integrity, 
and their great truthfulness, raised them in his estimation above 
every other nation, excepting his own ; and therefore he was 
more disposed to form lasting connections with individuals belong- 
ing to it than with any other foreigners ; in fact most of his for- 
eign friendships were with Englishmen. 

The iubjects wliich. Niebuhr principally studied in Edinburgh, 
were mathematics and the physical sciences ; among the latter 
chiefly natural philosophy, chemistry, agriculture, and mineralogy. 
Philological and historical studies he only prosecuted by himself, 
and by way of recreation. In these departments he regarded the 
learned men there as incomparably inferior to the Germans. But 
besides the scientific knowledge which he acquired in the course 
of his attendance on the college lectures, he gained during his 
visit, through observation, intercourse, and research, an insight 
into the mutual relations of the various parts of the state machine, 
which it would have been impossible for him to obtain elsewhere. 
The information which he thus acquired, may certainly be con- 
sidered as the real foundation of his political and financial emi- 
nence, although he attended no lectures on these subjects in Scot- 
land. He indeed frequently expressed the opinion, that finance, 
considered in its practical application, was rather an art than a 
science, and could not be handed down from the professorial 



94 MEMOIR, OF NIEBUHB, 

chair, but was only to be learnt by personal investigation, and 
study. 

Niebuhr often acknowledged with thankfulness how much En- 
gland had taught him. He had previously been only capable of 
making such additions to his knowledge as he could derive from 
conversation, or books ; now he had learnt to read nature also, 
and the objects that spoke to the eye alone. He felt too that he 
had gained much in courage, experience, and aptitude, through 
this tour. 

He left London, toward the end of October, for Edinburgh, 
where he remained about a year, made some little excursions into 
the southern part of the Highlands, and then returned, by way of 
Manchester, Sheffield, &c, to London, where he only staid a few 
days on this occasion. He had, in the first instance, formed plans 
of more extended travel in the interior of England, chiefly in 
order to visit the great manufacturing towns ; he also wished to 
have penetrated further into the Scottish Highlands ; why these 
schemes were only partially carried into execution, will appear 
from his letters to his betrothed, which, besides some recollections 
of his own verbal accounts, are the only source from which any 
records of this period of his life have been obtained. 

In the beginning of November, 1799, Niebuhr returned to 
Holstein, and spent the following winter there among his friends. 
In the middle of April, 1800, he proceeded to Copenhagen, where 
he met with a hearty welcome from Count Schimmelman, and 
was received with great kindness by the Crown Prince. 

A few weeks after his arrival, he was appointed Assessor at the 
Board of Trade for the East India Department, and secretary and 
head clerk of the standing Commission of the affairs of Barbary 
(or the Direction of the African Consulates), with a salary which 
was not indeed large, but sufficient for his wishes, and for a quiet 
retired life, such as he and his Amelia had firmly determined to 
lead ; a life that was in accordance with their tastes, and from 
which they were both resolved not to depart, in spite of all allure- 
ments to the contrary. 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 95 

EXTRACTS FROM NIEBUHR'S LETTERS DURING HIS STAY IN 
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 1798-1799. 

XXXIX. 

TO AMELIA. 

Cuxhaven, 28th June, 1798. 

Good morning, dearest ! You are most likely writing at this moment, 
and so we may fancy ourselves sitting opposite to each other : this sense 
of your nearness consoles me for our separation, and its good effect will he 
strengthened when the compulsory, prison-like inactivity to which I am 
doomed at present is succeeded by uncontrolled activity : then I shall look 
up to you in thought, to see if your glance of satisfaction sets the seal 
upon my performances, or your sad eye says that I have failed in my duty. 

I have been sitting in a little room here for several hours this morning, 
which I have spent in reading an English magazine, and have been very 
agreeably surprised by one of its articles — a notice and specimens of a poem 
that has just come out, "Naucratia, or Naval Dominion," by H. G. Pye. 
There is a great bustle in the house, and the mingled sounds of children 
crying, nurses singing, people shouting, the loud voices of the Englishmen 
calling to the waiters, and the still more resounding and unintelligible con- 
versation among themselves, has as stunning an effect upon me, sitting all 
alone in my little room, as the noise of a set of drunkards upon their sober 
comrade. Meanwhile, I have already found that necessity is an excellent 
teacher — that nothing makes us so active as having no one to help us, so 
discreet as having to rely upon ourselves alone, so self-collected as feeling our 
own individuality sharply outlined off from all others, which must be the case 
with the utter stranger ; and thus I am full of hope that the bitter cup of 
separation will strengthen my enervated soul as much as we expect, and im- 
mensely invigorate my energies. That must be our best consolation 

XL. 

London, 21s t July, 1798. * 

I find very little that interests me in the mere external appearance even 

of the most remarkable city ; and London, however little it resembles our 

towns, has extremely little variety in itself. Perhaps, on this account, I 

am not adapted for a traveler, and still less because what is foreign has, in 

general, little attraction or value for me 

The day before yesterday, I presented my father's letters to Russell, Ren- 
nell, and Mallet du Pan, and enjoyed a very pleasant day in consequence. 
The two first are very unaffected, warm-hearted men, who were evidently 
glad to see me, and do all in their power to help me. 

What Mr. Russell has done, out of regard to my father, would not often 
be done with us ; and it is perhaps the main distinction between our 
method of treating a stranger and that here, that we more quickly conceive 
a personal attachment and try to give pleasure ; while the English, in the 
same case, spare no pains to be of use, but leave their friend to seek out 
his amusements for himself. Russell has had a fever, and is still taking 
quinine ; he looks older than my father and seems much more infirm 
nevertheless, he took me yesterday to Sir Joseph Banks and the British 
Museum, where he introduced me to all the curators ; asked Dalrymple to 
introduce me to the meeting of the Royal Society, and finished by intro- 



96 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ducing me to a Dr. Gartshorn, who has asked me to dine with him to-day 
Rennell's kind, simple, animated face impresses you still more agreeably, 
and it is principally through him and his directions that I can obtain what 
may prove the way to my appointment in Kiel. He has a family, and 
speaks with so much feeling of the happiness he enjoys in it, that I wish 
above all things to win his confidence and get intimate with him. Mars- 
den, whose book is so excellent, seems jovial and open-hearted ; he in- 
terests me much, and I should fancy him a most highly cultivated man ; 
but he is probably too wealthy and too fashionable to admit me to famil- 
iar intercourse. 

The dinner at the Royal Society fully justified the sentence that has 
often been passed upon such meetings. It was a feast, and the conversa- 
tion extremely indifferent} in fact, below the every-day conversation of 
learned men in Germany. We must not be unjust to ourselves : it is our 
own fault that we are not nobler than we are in general ; but whether the 
Good and the Beautiful find a temple in more hearts here in England, is a 
great question, and worth the solving, if it can be solved. Every body 
here is in action ; idleness and half-done work are certainly less common 
than with us ; practical ability is certainly more general — a false show of 
knowledge rarer; a smooth exterior gains little respect; the word of a man 
may be depended on, and I believe the better sort trouble themselves little 
about the opinion of others. But it can not be denied that mediocrity is 
very common, and is by no means looked down upon : that, as Schonborn 
says, it is a question whether genius is an attribute of this nation, and 
certain that true warm-heartedness* is extremely rare ; a little of the fog 
that " Allwill"! talks about seems very prevalent — hence, also, the great 
indifference, the one-sidedness, the self-will. You see that novelty has not 
so raised my opinion as to place me in danger of having, hereafter, to 
moderate a flaming enthusiasm. It would indeed need much to make me 
feel here as in my fatherland — to make other advantages compensate for 
the absence of that harmony of sentiment, which made me happy in the 
society of our friends, even before you were mine. 

I think that most learned men here, as elsewhere, look more to the 
authority that a man brings with him, than to his talents and intellect. 
My father's name, which is very celebrated here, introduces me every 
where. But I look forward with pleasure to the time that will transfer me 
from a rather too conspicuous position to the quiet of Scotland. 

XLI. 

London, 27th July, 1798. 

London does not exercise a cheering influence on me, though I 

have had occasional hours of intense enjoyment here 

I owe my pleasantest moments in London to the arts. My good fortune 
has ordained it so, that a splendid collection consisting of paintings of the 
Italian school, with some antique busts and vases, which is about to be 
disposed of, has been on show for the last few weeks. It contains pieces 
by all the greatest masters ; but after the chef-d'ceuvres of Raphael, &c, 

* Innigkeit. — The term warm-heartedness is scarcely an adequate translation 
of the German word, though perhaps the nearest to it our language affords. 
Innigkeit implies depth and sincerity in addition to warmth of feeling. 

t Allwill's Letters, a novel, by Jacobi. 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 97 

the Lueretia of Guercino has filled me with more admiration than any 
thing else. It was almost the first thing I had seen in England that I 
felt a very strong impulse to describe to you ; but what words could repro- 
duce the impression made by the countenance of this fair, youthful matron '? 
These paintings have taught me, for the first time, how high art can rise, 
and how great is its power ; and further, how first-rate excellence alone is 
worth any thing in works of art. 

You have probably heard of the Shakspeare Gallery, which owes its 
origin to a few publishers and picture-dealers, who have brought out a 
magnificent edition of the poet, with copper-plates, for which they have 
procured drawings from the best English artists by high payment, and ap- 
pealing to their patriotism (where they have it). Very few of these en- 
gravings have pleased me ; but the productions of a young man, named 
Westall, form a decided exception. He has also drawn a series of illus- 
trations to Milton, which indicate real genius. 

I have not seen much of Schbnbom for the last week past ; two days 
he has been out of town, and on the rest I have hardly been able to find 
him at home. On Sunday we had another conversation, in which we 
came a great deal nearer to each other ; at least, I have conceived a high 
respect for his philosophical knowledge and his extraordinary acquaintance 
with all the philosophical and mathematical writers. It was interesting 
to me to watch his bold intellect as it played with the exposition of my- 
thology, even when he did not interpret the legends, but only imposed a 
meaning on them. 

If we lived longer in the same neighborhood — had I systematic knowl- 
edge which I could really call my own— could I repay him with the same 
pure silver (all personal conversation may be compared to private bank- 
notes, which are valueless beyond their own narrow sphere of circulation), 
no doubt the barriers of which I spoke to you in my last would give way. 

If, even with him, I feel oppressed in finding a want of personal interest, 
you can easily imagine how much more this is the case with the'English. 

The superficiality and insipidity of nearly all the conversations to which 
I have listened, or in which I have joined, is really depressing. As far 
as I hear, little is said about politics, which is a good thing — much better 
than our German mania for going beyond our depth on such subjects; but, 
that narrative and commonplaces form the whole staple of conversation, 
from which all philosophy is excluded — that enthusiasm and loftiness of 
expression are entirely wanting, depresses me more than any personal 
neglect of which, as a stranger, I might have to complain; for of this 
my share is not large, and I bear it easily. I am, besides, fully per- 
suaded that I shall find things very different in Scotland; of this I am 
assured by several Scotchmen whom I already know 

I have not availed myself of my introductions to fashionabie society, 
and hesitate considerably to expose myself to the mortification of a haugh- 
ty reception, though it is also possible that they might procure for me much 
that would be interesting. 

XLII. 

.LONDON, 10th August, 1798. 

Really, in summer, London is not a very interesting city, and the 

libraries are at present my chief sources of information. In the morning, 
E 



98 MEMOIR OF NIEBUffifc. 

from eleven or twelve till toward four, I am at Sir Joseph Banks's library, 
which is very liberally opened to all scholars; on Thursday, during the 
same hours, I was at that of the Royal Society ; in the afternoon I am at 
Dalrymple's. Sir Joseph's librarian, a Swede named Dryander, who is 
very civil to every one, and still more to me, as a sort of fellow-country- 
man, because we understand one another when he speaks Swedish and I 
Danish, affords me every possible facility in the use of any book which 
may be of importance to me. 

I am extremely sorry that I have found no friend inclined to take 
me about, and explain to me what is most worthy of observation, nor to 
remove by his experience the obstacles which necessarily lie in the path of 
one who has not beeen accustomed to find his own way into unknown re- 
gions. I regret that Schonborn has not shown more zeal in this respect, 
or perhaps has not a sufficient knowledge of men and things ; for I feel that 
this valuable time might certainly have been better spent than among 
books, though I am also perfectly aware that this mode of passing my time 
is far better than that of many travelers, who run hither and thither and 
look and wonder without comprehending. Vauxhall, Raneleh, Astley's, 
the Royal Circus, &c, &c, which one likes to see as favorite amusements 
of the public, are scarcely worth the money and the time. I have seen St. 
Paul's, and mean sometime to ascend the dome, whence there is a fine 
view over the city. I have also lately visited Westminister Abbey, and 
looked with reverence and gratitude upon the busts of so many great men. 
But how characteristic is the equally honorable position accorded to so 
many nameless and insignificant persons by the side of the noblest dead ! 
What a quantity of nonsense is to be seen on these venerable walls ! One 
man writes a Hebrew inscription on the tomb of his daughter ; on another, 
I think also belonging to a woman, there is an Abyssinian inscription; 
Chatham has an absurdly over-burdened allegorical monument ; Sidney 
and Russell have none at all, and on Milton's, the man who erected it 
gives his own name and title in several lines : Milton is mentioned in the 
quietest manner. 

At Sir Joseph Banks's I have made the acquaintance of Dr. Afzelius, a 
Swede, who was with Wittstrbm in Africa ; he is by all accounts an excel- 
lent man ; his exterior gives me the impression of sociability and sincerity. 
Africa and the new discoveries there have been the subject of many con- 
versations with my acquaintance 

To have some society in the evening, I went to Mallet du Pan's. The 
party there presented the attractions and the defects of true Trench 
society ; — interesting anecdotes were related in well-chosen language, but 
there was an utter absence of dignity, wisdom — all that speaks to the 

heart 

17th. — I saw last week Captain Bligh, who has introduced the Bread- 
fruit tree into the West Indies, and whose crew during the first attempt 
had mutinied, and cast him out in an open boat, in which condition he per- 
formed a voyage of many hundred miles. He has a noble physiognomy 

XLIII. 

London, 7th September, 1798. 
The autumn draws on, and the bright season of the year is over. With 
the cold foggy mornings and the dark evenings, I have grown serious too j 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 99 

I feel the alterations which the change of the seasons always works in my 
still too susceptible organization. I always suffered so under these various 
changes that I used to fancy myself a new man with every season of the 
year, because my new sensations and emotions were so powerful just when 
the old ones had become so weak ; and this revolution raised me heaven- 
high for a time. It can not deceive me now ; I can not even be grateful 
for so delusive a favor. What is good-humor, what is gayety worth, if its 
source is not in ourselves ? To find the inward source is what I strive 
after : to succeed in this endeavor demands faith in the free energy of the 
will for its support and animation. 

Perhaps the sensations produced by the changes of the seasons have 
some effect upon every one whose life-thread the Fates have spun finer 
than that of common men. 

We all share something of the nature of the world which surrounds us, 
and are-, perhaps, in closer dependence on it than our fair dreams will 
allow us to confess ; and the consciousness of this is doubtless the most 
vivid in him who strives the most earnestly to obtain deliverance from it. 
But if he can in some measure succeed, he will find that he has gained 
freedom in many other ways besides. 

My thoughts often travel back a year, when I am alone and unoccupied. 
Then, indeed, I saw a light; but it was a light in a storm, a flickering 
glow, the sun had not yet risen that has now scattered the clouds from 
which the storm broke. 

I have read a good many political writings lately, indeed, devoted a 
great part of the day to them. Now I have got so far that I shall soon 
be able to give up this employment. I have groped into every hole and 
corner for information, in order to obtain a correct notion of the very com- 
plicated politics of this empire, and of the present crisis, which to the super- 
ficial reader must appear a tedious confusion, barren of celebrated men — 
to the careful examiner, a wonderful, unprecedented, but horrible drama. 
My heart has been wounded more deeply with every step toward its devel- 
opment, and all ideal notions of the people's capability of great things in 
a state of liberty, which were hitherto such welcome intruders, are now 
fled forever. I can not bear to spoil a letter to you with the account of 
actions and men which do not concern us. But because it has occupied 
me, and because I should tell you all about it if we were together, I will 
say this much to you, that, in the printed documents of the conspirators, I 
have learnt to know men, who, while possessing almost unequaled elo- 
quence, began a career which led them into crime, and made them the cause 
of deep misery to numbers of their fellow-citizens ; very different men from 
those who are the objects of admiration to our fools ; extraordinary men, 
but men whose existence is the curse of their country. The politics of 
such a party is something higher than those which we both disapproved on 
principle, and which I promised you to handle cautiously in spite of the 
current of inclination. 

What I have been studying lately borders on history ; it does not con- 
cern the color of the garment, but the shape of the figure ; but as regards 
this topic also, I shall soon have reached my goal, and shall then turn my 
attention easily and completely from this field. 

I continue to derive much instruction from the library of the distin- 
guished man who has treated me with so much kindness, but I shall soon 



100 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

have attained all the advantage I want from it ; that is, I shall have ex- 
tended my own literary knowledge as far as time and opportunity permit, 
and finished a notice of the German hooks it contains, which I am writing 
for its owner, as the only way in which I can in some measure repay his 
kindness 

XLIV. 

London, 2lst September, 1798. 

My favorite amusement here is the theatre. In spite of all its 

defects we have nothing like it across the water. Many foreigners, who, 
in general, can enter very little into the spirit of any thing truly English, 
find a thousand things here to carp at, and in truth there is much to 
criticise. But however hypochondriacal and ill-humored a man may feel, 
if he is not too stupid to understand a joke, the English comic stage will 
certainly put him into spirits again, for it is rich in interesting plays and 
clever actors. Tragedy has only two great artists : Mrs. Siddons, who 
played Lady Macbeth lately in the most elevated style, quite free from the 
national fault of a false declamation of the serious passages, and from 
every impropriety of demeanor ; and a celebrated actor, who, however, 
stands far below Mrs. Siddons in correctness of expression 

XLV. 

London, '60th September, 1798. 
Last Sunday, a heavenly autumn day, I went to see Nicolai, at Rich- 
mond. "We took a boat across the Thames, and I made a pilgrimage to 
Twickenham to see Pope's garden. Oh ! that I could thus visit with you 
the monuments of those men whose memory excites a wish to have lived 
in their times. The garden has been preserved unaltered, as Pope laid it 
out. The monument he erected to the mother he so dearly loved is still 
standing ; but the cypresses that he planted round it have all died out 
except two, which still show here and there a green shoot. Hedges and 
old-fashioned flower-beds occupy the left side of the garden, and in the 
centre stands a bower, the trees of which have now grown to a gigantic 
height, and, with the recollection of the great men who once trod this 
sward, inspire the awe of a sacred grove. They who will may call the 
grotto, the cool retreat in which Pope loved to sit with his most intimate 
friends, a toy — to me it was more. The prospect it commands must be 
allowed by all to be enchantingly beautiful — the Thames and its incom- 
parably charming banks. Before the grotto stood an old weeping-willow, 
now almost dead, and propped up with care, also from Pope's times. 
The house is not shown. It is inhabited, and therefore frequent visits 
would probably disturb the occupants. But it ought not to be inhabited ; 
it ought to be a temple for the grove. The many beautiful views from 
Richmond also afforded me extreme delight. 

XL VI. 

TO COUNT MOLTKE. 

London, 9th October, 1798. 

You will have heard most of my adventures from Milly, when 

she had the happiness of seeing you and your wife again after your jour 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 101 

ney. In future I will send something to you also as opportunity offers. 
This will be rather subjective than objective. I know no nation to which 
I would rather belong as a citizen, than the English ; not only on account 
of their Constitution, but from my delight in the hard-working, active in- 
tellect, and the strong, straight-forward common sense of the thinking 
men, and because of the superior, almost universal cultivation of the 
burgher class, strictly so called, and, as I believe, of the farmers, who 
might put to shame many a conceited scholar, and many a high-bred, pol- 
ished aristocrat. Of the English scholars, on the contrary, I have a very 
mean opinion : I keep to my assertion, that they are without originality ; 
also, that England can boast of no true poets at the present time. And 
yet literary men are the only people with whom a foreigner can come into 
close contact ; for only a very brilliant intellect or external advantages can 
procure him admittance to the interior of families. These are only open 
to natives, and I think it right that it should be so, for, in fact, what can 
a foreigner bring with him, unless he be an extremely distinguished man, 
to make his friendship wanted, when people have been long surrounded 
with friends already? I positively shrink from associating with the young 
men on account of their unbounded dissoluteness, which makes me feel that 
I should be more likely to meet with uncourteousness and repulse from 
them than cordial friendship. You see, therefore, dearest Moltke, how 
lonely I still am, for you know that I do not go where I might have the 
entree if I do not like the people, and you can pretty well estimate how 
much I trouble myself about the scholars ; and that, if I should like to be 
a citizen of England, it would be an essential condition, not only to have 
Milly unalterably my own, but to plant a colony of you friends around us. 
Whether it will be different on the other side of the Tweed, a few weeks 
will show me. However, your friend is a silly child to dislike England 
because of the unpleasantness of his isolated position. For nature is very 
lovely here ; it is cheering to see the cultivation of the soil, and the pros- 
perity of the inhabitants; and the immense accumulation of industry, 
wealth, and resources throughout the empire is most magnificent. You 
very likely know from Milly, that if Schonborn were not here I should lit- 
erally live in solitude. But this friend I shall never forget, and can not 
give you too high an idea of him ; and when I am alone, my time is not 
wasted. 1 have more than ever turned my thoughts inward, and striven 
to attain mental freedom ; I have begun to reflect more than formerly, 
and felt the need of extent and completeness of cultivation with a force 
that has shaken the empire of indolence, of "chaos and old night," and 
will at last assuredly destroy it. I feel that I am capable of great things, 
and called to perform them. I have vowed to myself to clear up the con- 
fusion that has always reigned in my mind, and to replace it by order. 
These efforts will gain strength in Edinburgh, whatever the professors may 
be, for if they can not teach me mathematics and astronomy, I will teach 
myself; and chemistry, natural history, and agriculture are indisputably 
well taught there. I ardently long to form friendships there, ascribe my 
difficulty in finding friends to my own defects, and regret it, but in any 
case mean to keep a good courage, and look forward to the time when 1 
shall be truly happy .' 0, how great a thing it is to be able to express this 
confidence ! 



102 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

XLVII. 

TO AMELIA. 

Newcastle, 25th October. 

A day of rest after three weary days of traveling I will take the 

best hours of to-day for you, and in the occupation of telling you all that 
is most interesting about my journey, seek the resting-point from which 
to control the whirl of continual change ; so I will talk to you this evening, 
in the gloomy, dirty inn-parlor, hundreds of miles away, as if we were sit- 
ting together before the fire. 

The modes of traveling in England are very different from those which 
are so far in use among us, as are also the posting regulations. 

Open carriages are something unheard of, even to the country people, as 
far as I yet know England ; in Yarmouth only a sort of car is used. All 
burdens are carried on carts of an excellent build and extraordinary strength 
in general with two wheels, only the heavy wagons have four; the for- 
mer, drawn by from one to four horses harnessed before each other ; the 
latter, sometimes by eight, or perhaps even more, both for agricultural 
purposes or the carriage of goods. Even the common people do not will- 
ingly travel on foot, and I believe you would nowhere meet fewer people 
walking, than here in the country. Hence you find remarkably few foot- 
paths, either across the fields, or by the road-side, and in consequence the 
country looks almost destitute of human beings, to one traveling through 
it. Thus, those who do not travel on horseback, must either travel by 
post-chaise, by mail, or by stage-coach ; in any case you travel in a close 
carriage. The first are very pretty half-coaches, holding two ; but as they 
cost as much in proportion as our extra-post are too dear for me. The 
second is a letter-post, a public undertaking; a very rapid mode of con- 
veyance, and safe, as it has an armed guard ; but inconvenient from the 
smallness of its build, and particularly liable to be upset. The last are 
something like our traveling-post, but belong to private individuals. In 
traveling by them you have no further trouble than to take your place in 
the office for as far as you wish to go ; for the proprietor of the coach has 
at each stage, which are from ten to fifteen English miles at most from 
each other, relays of horses, which, unless an unusual amount of traveling 
causes an exception, stand ready harnessed to be put to the coach. Four 
horses drawing a coach with six persons inside, four on the roof, a sort of 
conductor beside the coachman, and overladen with luggage, have to get 
over seven English miles in the hour ; and as the coach goes on without 
ever stopping, except at the principal stages, it is not surprising that you 
can traverse the whole extent of the country in so few days. But for any 
length of time this rapid motion is quite too unnatural. You can only get 
a very piecemeal view of the country from the windows, and with the 
tremendous speed at which you go, can keep no object long in sight ; you 
are unable also to stop at any place. 

In a coach of this kind I took my place on Monday morning. I found 
myself with two females, one of whom looked like a married woman. A 
good-looking man had accompanied her to the carriage, and said a " God 
bless you," by way of farewell. The woman's face was red with weeping. 
The appearance of these women showed that they could not belong to the 
wealthier classes; but this was proved by their traveling at all in this 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 103 

mode. I could not, however, make up my mind to what class they might 
belong. That in the ordinary course of things they were sure to be re 
spectable seemed certain to me ; and that was the main thing ; for on 
Bhort excursions I had often found myself in the same coach with creatures 
of a very different kind. Meanwhile the tears of the first woman dried 
amazingly fast, and her countenance cleared up instantly. Thus I saw 
that she was either destitute of deep feeling, or had been only playing a 
part before. On the road an extremely vulgar shopkeeper's wife got in 
for a part of the way. In Hertford we picked up another companion, a 
middle-aged man. who at first seemed to me ill-bred but he soon gave me 
a much more favorable impression. I found, to my surprise, a man of rare 
polish and sociability, well-informed, both by reading and experience, and 
very witty. His name I did not learn, but we parted at York with a 
friendly farewell. It is said that the English are a people of few words ; 
this is only so far true, that they would rather sit dumb than drag on a 
conversation by empty questions like the French. Neither do they speak 
without consideration. Besides, formulas and formalities play a more im- 
portant part in English conversation in society than in the French, which 
is much more unfettered. This conventional politeness I have not as yet 
been able to acquire, and hence I always feel embarrassed with strangers. 
My companion possessed it completely, and seemed anxious to make me 
forget my deficiencies in this respect. 

On Monday, as long as daylight lasted, our road, after leaving Middle- 
sex, with its hedges full of trees, and long, low hills, and town-built 
houses, lay through Hertfordshire, whose not very fertile soil, though ren- 
dered fruitful by most skillful culture, yields no profit to the husbandman, 
and then through barren, heathy Bedfordshire, with its miserable villages. 
In Northamptonshire, which did not seem much better, nightfall interrupt- 
ed my observations. In Stamford, the first town in Lincolnshire, I could 
perceive, by the moonlight, evidences of considerable importance and beau- 
ty. The whole country, a rich, level pasture ground, evinced prosperity, 
and when the daylight afforded a distinct view of the rich county of Not- 
tingham, my eyes were greeted with such a spectacle of universal rural 
prosperity as I had never before seen ; a multitude of little peasants' cot- 
tages, all smiling, built of bricks ; here and there a larger and roomier 
one ; every thing finished to the last degree. Probably many foreigners 
imagine the whole of England like this ; but even an unromantic ex- 
pectation would be disappointed at the sight of the dirty huts and the un- 
fruitful district mentioned before ; huts to which I should prefer many a 
serf's dwelling. But throughout there is not a field on the way uninclosed 
and wild. 

XL VIII. 

Edinburgh, Saturday, 27th October. 
I arrived here about half-past eleven to-night. The last day's journey, 
116 English miles, was the most disagreeable part of the whole way. 
From early in the morning it was damp and gloomy; in the afternoon it 
rained heavily. I never saw a more striking contrast than is presented by 
the two banks of the Tweed. Northumberland was much more beautiful 
than I expected, although without wood, like all this part of England. 
Berwick, which is on this side of the river, is in no respect superior to the 



104 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

common towns of poor countries, disgustingly dirty, and immediately be- 
yond the town you enter a wild country, almost entirely destitute of culti- 
vation. This district extends to Dunbar, a distance of eight- and-twenty 
miles. High hills, bare and dreary, with deep moory valleys, and over all 
an impenetrable mist. More in my next. I have made acquaintance on 
the way with a young medical student, from Sheffield, named Moorhouse, 
and we shall very likely lodge together. The lectures begin on Wednes- 
day. I have seen nothing of the town yet, but now I shall run out. The 
country is so romantic that I shall certainly taste new pleasures here 
Farewell. 

XLIX. 

Edinburgh, 31st October, 1798. 
I have just come back from a round to four of the opening lectures given 
to-day. An excellent practice has been established here, of reading an in- 
troductory lecture some days before the regular commencement of the course 
of instruction, which is open to the public, and gives an intelligent hearer 
a complete notion both of the talents and style of the teacher, and of the 
views and comprehensiveness with which he will handle his science. This 
day's specimens have convinced me beyond all doubt that the reputation 
of this University is fully deserved, and that the Professors here are all I 
could wish as men of profound insight, thorough mastery over their subjects, 
and admirable delivery. I can not say this of all of them ; one Robinson, 
the Professor of Natural Philosophy, wasted his time with very superficial 
remarks on the origin and value of the sciences, and further with very un- 
seasonable invectives against modern philosophy. However, we must not 
be too fastidious, if we want to learn ; and the science of natural philosophy 
possesses sufficient safeguards against the consequences of such defects in 
the exhibition of its principles ; attention and judgment will be able to 
eliminate extraneous elements ; and since no one in England would obtain 
such a chair without an eminent acquaintance with his science, I shall 
willingly rank myself among his hearers. The other Professor, whom I can 
accept as an instructor with unqualified satisfaction, is Dr. Hope, the suc- 
cessor of the venerable Dr. Black, whose advanced age prevents him from 
continuing his labors. I have never heard or read a more concise, com- 
plete, and clear survey of a science than that with which he opened the 
course on chemistry. He divided it into its different branches as an art 
and a science, accurately defined its limits, pointed out its special interest, 
and that which it derived from its application to the various purposes of 
life and the arts, its uses and abuses, with masterly skill. The two others, 
Dr. James Home and the celebrated Gregory, I heard accidentally in ac- 
companying my good friend and fellow-lodger, who is studying medicine. 
The former I judged to be quite a new beginner, both from his own ex- 
pressions, and the style of his delivery, which was too rapid and timid ; he 
seemed to me, however, an excellent, correct thinker. The latter, with a 
venerable mien, and an excellent delivery, seemed, as far as I could judge, 
quite equal to the reputation which he here enjoys. Casual expressions 
betrayed a noble mind. So much for this morning's observations, which 
will give you as good an acquaintance with the university as I possess my- 
self. It has greatly raised my spirits. It strengthens my conviction of the 
propriety of my decision, and animates me to carry it out with earnestness. 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 105 

An unexpected circumstance has obliged me somewhat to alter my plan 
for the employment of my time. Rutherford, Coventry, and Walker, whose 
lectures on natural history, botany, and agriculture, I expected to hear, 
give their courses, quite apart from the academical arrangements, during 
the summer, beginning in May. At first it was a serious vexation to me 
to hear this, but I soon resolved rather to give up or shorten my travels hi 
the provinces, and, during the winter as well as summer, to give a closer 
application to a smaller number of subjects. You know, however, that in 
any case October will remain the latest period for my return. 

Edinburgh is incredibly cheap in comparison with London — even cheaper 
than Copenhagen. I have a very nice apartment, with firing, for seven 
shillings a week ; coals do not cost much here ; in summer I shall only 
have to pay five shillings. The young medical student who lives with me, 
is an intelligent and honest fellow; we dine together at home, frugally 
and cheaply. I shall have a sum left now from my allowance for the 
purchase of books and philosophical instruments. One is not restricted by 
fashion here as in London. The natives of every class are distinguishable, 
not to their advantage, by the carelessness of their attire ; and the students 
are as far removed from English neatness as our young men. It has taken 
my fancy, however, and I mean to keep faithful to it ; but I have availed 
myself of the liberty of wearing my hair plain. In London a hairdresser 
costs nine guineas a year. I shall put off the remainder of the account of 
my journey, the description of Edinburgh, and much besides, till my next. 

L. 

Edinburgh, ilk November, 1798. 

To-morrow begin the lectures I mean to attend, and with them, 

the regular arrangement of my studies ; and, if it is possible, the long-in- 
tended daily continuation of a letter to you : with the same intent I will 
employ these hours in giving you a full account of what it makes me happy 
to think of. 

You rftmember the letter to Francis Scott, the old friend of my father.* 
and how we reckoned on his reception of me, if he should be still living. I 
soon learnt where a man of this name resided, and as he was distinguished 
from the host of men bearing the same name here, by being of higher rank, 
and better known, he seemed to me very likely to be the same person, and 
although there was still the possibility of a mistake, which would have 
brought me into a very disagreeable position, I felt an uncommon desire to 
venture on the step. So, yesterday morning, I walked to the house. While 
I was in the act of making inquiries to see if it were my man, and was 
just sending the maid hi with my father's letter, on the cover of which 
several circumstances of his life were mentioned, to distinguish him from 
any other, out came Mrs. Scott, and made me certain at once that it was 
the very man I sought. She invited me into the parlor in a very friendly 
way ; where, indeed, I did not find him, as he was gone out into the city, 
but she received me quite cordially without waiting for his return, and 
promised me that he would be at home to-day between the hours of service. 
Nota bene in passing : there is no nation that can be compared to the Scotch 
for piety ; they not only go to church every Sunday, but to both the serv- 
ices; and all, high and low, conclude the day of rest with prayer and sing- 
* The elder Niebuhr had known him in Bombay. 



106 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ing. At this hour, therefore, I found the venerable white-haired old man ; 
besides himself, his wife, a young lady who seemed to be his daughter, a 
grown-up young man, and two boys, all evidently his family. They all 
seemed even to have looked forward to my coming, as if I were an expect- 
ed friend. The mother greeted me as being already an acquaintance, and 
the old father received me with the whole fervor of English cordiality, when 
it is aroused from the depths in which it ordinarily conceals itself in those 
who have not quite starved it out. He inquired with great earnestness 
about all that concerned my father; the letter had given' him an unhoped- 
for surprise, for he thought that my father had been long dead. In the 
course of this conversation, the whole family gradually left the room, and 
when we found ourselves alone, he began to speak of my objects, and to 
open his heart to me about the position of a young man at this university. 
You will readily imagine that these exhortations, which were, and could be 
only, addressed to my age and its usual characteristics, did not wring my 
conscience ; for, certainly, at my age, it is impossible to be less liable to 
fall into youthful excesses than I know myself to be ; but the noble old man 
spoke with such a tender anxiety, referred so solemnly to his parental cares, 
and his trust that he should keep his children's hearts pure, and then con- 
cluded with the words, " You are far from your parents and your friends ; 
look upon me as your father, this family as your own ; I shall regard you 
as my own child. However hard you work you will have leisure hours, 
and need recreation ; seek it among us. I am at home myself every even- 
ing almost without exception, but if I should be out, my wife will be glad 
to see you ; and if you like music, my daughter plays and sings. My eldest 
son, who is nearly blind, but an excellent youth, will be happy to go out 
with you or converse with you." He was so moved that he dried his eyes, 
and it cost me some trouble to repress my own tears. We shook hands, 
and I entered in thought a new home. 

Say, dearest Amelia, is not this a happiness beyond all possible expecta- 
tion ? What accident could we have fancied probable, that would so in- 
stantly have removed all that is suspicious (especially to an English family) 
in my youth and present position, all that isolates me as a foreigner, all 
the insignificance of my obscurity,* and opened connections to me in which 
my personal sympathy will not be regarded as intrusive, my worth not 
measured simply as an attentive or intelligent listener ; in which sympathy 
and intercourse may create an enduring bond, and the sight of a happy 
family present the image of what the future promises to us. 

I am without a doubt as to my progress in all the branches of science 
and cultivation that lie before me ; for besides mathematics, astronomy, 
physics, and chemistry, I wish to pay particular attention to the art of 
composition. 

My connection with my dear fellow inmate, too, takes a more and more 
brotherly character ; and when I have labored conscientiously, a few hours' 
conversation with the old man and his children will refresh me and make 
a new man of me. And then post-day will bring your letter, and per- 
haps, if we remind our friends, I may get something from them besides. 
So this is my present, and my immediate prospect for the future ! 

I have only two courses of lectures to attend as yet, one by Dr. Hope, 

* Thatenlosigkcit, literally (Heedlessness ; the not having yet accomplished 
any deed worthy to be named. 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 107 

the other by Professor Robinson. The first is excellent. It will give me 
an opportunity, one way or other, of learning physics, for which I have a 
great inclination. Playfair has not yet begun the higher mathematics, 
but will do so on "Wednesday ; he will be my third tutor. About taking 
more I hesitate. My understanding counsels me not to lose the advantage 
of hearing Munroe's anatomy ; but my feelings loathe it. Should it be the 
necessary price of Stewart's and Tytler's society to attend their lectures, I 
may resolve to pay it ; but with them my lectures would mount up to six. 
and the consequence would be, that my daily hours of study must rise to 
more than twelve, which seems with me to be the limit, if not of physical 
strength, at all events of the power of thinking for myself. I have begun 
to study mathematics by myself with success, and mean to make constant 
use of the beautiful observatory, which is situated on a rocky hill to the 
northeast of the city. 

I promised you, last time, some little account of the pleasant fellow- 
lodger with whom an unexpected chance has thrown me together. Do 
not picture him to yourself possessing genius, or with astonishing and 
comprehensive learning ; no, fancy him with the more fortunate endow- 
ments of inexhaustible vivacity, unwearied activity, with a careless modesty 
as regards himself, and yet considerable acquirements in his own depart- 
ment, and a very warm heart. He is a native of Sheffield, a place where 
the very general, but very equable cultivation of the inhabitants, is par- 
ticularly favorable to the strengthening of a sound understanding. A 
striking trait in his character is a too credulous good-nature, which always 
falls into any cunningly laid snare ; and an invincible pertinacity in his 
good opinion of people whom he has once, although mistakenly, begim to 
respect. With such a nice fellow, who would not be a warm friend ? 
And I believe we both consider each other as friends already. He is not 
the only acquaintance I have here among the young men ; there is one of 
his friends whom I will tell you about in my next, only too unlike him in 
purity of heart 

LI. 

12tk November, 1798. 

In the very first days of our acquaintance, my friend Moorhouse 

began to speak of an acquaintance of his who had been here some months, 
but whom he had not yet been able to find out. He was a young man 
of uncommon genius, and burning with ambition to win a name for him- 
self in literature ; with this view it was his intention to visit Germany, 
to learn our language, and study our literature most thoroughly, and then 
to introduce it to the English public. This account, of course, made me 
curious to see him. As soon as my good friend had found him out, he in- 
vited him, in the first joy of his heart, and in the persuasion that the ac- 
quaintance would be a mutual acquisition, to take a place at our table, 
and hire a room next to mine ; proposals to which the other willingly as- 
sented. But in spite of his courteousness, our first conversation gave me 
a repugnance to the stranger. I saw in him a man, who in early youth (he 
is more than a year younger than I) had nipped all virtue in the bud, and 
trodden it under foot ; and cultivated and availed himself of some superfi- 
cial reading in the French materialistic philosophy, to cast a mantle of 
system over his weaknesses ; merry and humorous, full of incessant con 



108 MEMOIR OF NIEBTTHR. 

tradictions in his thoughts and actions ; not without reading, not without 
cultivation, but as far removed from a thinker, which is the reputation he 
especially affects, as from any accomplishment in the world. You can 
fancy that the prospect of having him for a daily companion and a next- 
door neighbor, was any thing but agreeable. He is, indeed, a strange 
fellow ; for instance, horrible expressions and unaccountable behavior, 
are followed by asservations of his good-will, and demonstrations of liking 
and kindness. 

The second stranger at our table is an old friend of my fellow-lodger — 
a young man, according to his own account, given to excesses ; in whom, 
however, there still remains a love of the noble and beautiful ; and as he 
is an honorable and trustworthy man, he is not personally offensive to me, 
however much the conversation is so, which prevails among people of such 
a cast. In England you would seek almost in vain, I think, for the 
warmth and depth of feeling which characterize our friendships in Ger- 
many ; isolation is the natural position to a young man, though in indi- 
vidual cases high esteem and veneration may call forth warm expressions 
of attachment, particularly in absence. I only wait an opportunity to set 
myself at liberty by unloosing a bond, which, like many others, promising 
advantage at first, threatens to transform itself into a chain 

23d. I have seen the Scotts three times since, and their first reception 
showed such earnest kindness, that it is almost superfluous to say, that 
with them I look forward to an unchangeable, not an inconstant and 
capricious friendship 

The strict and rather pedantic piety of the whole family, causes me 
some embarrassment ; still this quality seems to me truly worthy of re- 
spect, particularly in the father; and I wish and intend, as far as I can 
with sincerity, to conform to the Kirk. I should not like to grieve the old 
man, and at all events my ideas harmonize much more with his than with 
those of the English infidels. 

LII. 

Edinburgh, 18th December, 1798. 
The number of vigorous, thinking minds is incontestably much larger in 
this than in most other countries, but the bonds which hold them together 
are just as much weaker and slighter. Some exceptions may be made, and 
(although kindness and friendship can not properly be said to make an ex- 
ception when we are speaking of life-giving enthusiasm) not many of our 
fellow-countrymen, brought up in every-day life, would be capable of feeling 
and expressing such hearty sympathy and cordiality as Mr. Scott's treat- 
ment of me displays. But I have never witnessed, nor heard of family 
life full of deep and tender affection, nor of a hearty, enthusiastic, mutual 
confidence between young men. I have, indeed, though very rarely, been 
told of ardent love between married people, which expressed itself through 
the deep sorrow felt by the survivor ; but even this love led to no results, 
for in other respects they retained the same indifference to all that appears 
to us of the highest value. Every young man has a crowd of friends ; 
indeed, any one can have as many as he likes. But this sort of friendship 
consists simply and solely in a taste for paying each other long and frequent 
visits, and then killing the time together either in wild excesses, or in 
sleepy conversation, or boisterous merriment. I have remarked and proved 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 109 

by experience, what, perhaps, will astonish you, that it seems very strange 
to a young Englishman for a young man to speak of his absent friends 
with warmth, and to occupy himself with thoughts of them in his solitary 
leisure hours ; and to this void in their hearts and imaginations, perhaps 
their universal licentiousness may be in great measure ascribed. They are 
only happy in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. They are much more 
ready and obliging in undertaking trouble for their acquaintance than we 
usually are ; but it is no great merit in them ; bodily activity is an enjoy- 
ment to them, and they are accustomed to it by their whole education and 
mode of life. I have sketched this picture from my own experience, and 
add that it is nevertheless true, that the English, on the average, are worth 
more than people of a corresponding class whom we see at home; because, 
in the first place, with the exception of contemptible idlers, they hardly 
ever are, or like to be, without employment ; and secondly, they quickly 
obtain a practical acquaintance with a subject, because their imagination 
does not divide and distract their attention by presenting other interesting 
objects ; besides, they would be without a standing or a profession if they 
were not active in this way, the example of which they see every where 
around them. 

Of the female sex I can not speak from my own knowledge ; out of Mr. 
Scott's family I have not had so much as one long conversation with any 
lady ; I have, however, seen a considerable number, and found them ex- 
tremely commonplace. On the whole, women, though treated with scru- 
pulous politeness, are very little honored ; and few men have any idea that 
their conversation can be an agreeable recreation. In families where free- 
dom prevails between the young people of both sexes, and is confined within 
the limits of propriety (over which a strict watch is kept), the whole pleasure 
of their intercourse consists in pert jesting, dancing, and fun, just calculated 
to please and feed empty-headed frivolity. In parties, the ladies always keep 
together, and beyond certain prescribed formalities, are treated with perfect 
indifference ; it would excite the greatest attention, if the least interest 
were perceptible in the conversation of two young people with each other. 

I have wandered far from my aim, which was to complain to you how 
little benefit I derive from the parties, and the extended circle of acquaint- 
ance into which the point, consisting of one single family and a few friends, 
has expanded itself, in spite of my efforts to the contrary. 

In other respects, my peace is more secure against disturbance from such 
sources than it ever was before, and my industry does not flag. My con- 
science does not make me a single reproach on this point. I hasten to 
conclude ; I leave this letter unwillingly because it gives me the semblance 
of a talk with you. 

LIII. 

Edinburgh, 25th December, 1798 

If it were possible to infuse into my friends here, in addition to 

their many good qualities, somewhat of the higher interest which is so nat- 
ural to us, I would not complain of the interruptions they cause me ; but 
to that they are dead, and if you can bring them so far as to allow you to 
speak out of the fullness of your heart, without misunderstanding and mis- 
interpreting you, you are made to feel that you have attained the utmost you 
can hope for, and need never expect a return on their side. This keeps 



110 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

your relation to them within the same narrow limits which restrict their 
intimacy with their other friends, and the natural consequence is, that the 
interest of intercourse must inevitably diminish, unless external circum- 
stances give it, from time to time, a fresh impulse. You must not infer 
from this that I am growing tired of my acquaintance, and therefore am 
tempted gradually to forsake them. I visit nowhere habitually, except at 
the Scotts', and with them I have made it a rule never even to wear the 
appearance of diminished attachment, because I may find less interest in 
their conversation. I go there generally about three times a week, and 
enter into whatever mode of passing the time they choose, as heartily as I 
can. Then, too, they really are all so good and amiable, that it is never 
a task to be lively in their company. The father is a man of remarkably 
sound, strong understanding, and the mother a refined, sensible, and good 
woman, although not so free from prejudices, by a great deal, as the father, 
who, notwithstanding his decided strictness in religion and politics, never 
condemns a man for his opinions without knowing him, and possesses in a 
high degree a large and enlightened benevolence. Their third son, a boy 
about fifteen, who serves in the navy, came last week to spend some time 
at home. He seems to be a lad of good abilities ; but they complain that 
he is too volatile, and he is unhappily liable to convulsive attacks, so that 
his poor parents must have much secret anxiety ; but the laws of conven- 
tionalism oblige me to lock up my sympathy with them in my own breast. 
I thought, at first, I might possibly take some part in the instruction of the 
younger sons, in order, if possible, to awaken a higher intelligence in them ; 
but delightful as that would be, on closer consideration I found it imprac- 
ticable. Besides, they have a host of instructors, though scarcely such as 
they ought to have. Their father seems to do absolutely nothing himself 
toward their education, and one would feel almost indignant at it, if the 
contrary were ever heard of in this country. The extent to which boys are 
left to themselves, and the books they have in their hands, are a subject 
for just astonishment. Altogether you can have no adequate idea of the 
carelessness upon every subject, which quickens and nourishes all the germs 
of corruption till their poisonous weeds take root and shoot up, and you find 
their consequences meeting you at every step. 

I went to the Scotts' yesterday evening, to pass the happy Christmas 
Eve in some measure as if at home, and hoped I might, perhaps, by joining 
in the freedom of their festivities, get on a more confidential footing with 
them. I was disappointed. To-day is to the English, in their own fam- 
ilies, something like what yesterday is to us ; but it is kept in a very dif- 
ferent way, and is more of a family feast. Yesterday is just like other 
days ; and it is a superstitious point of distinction between the Scottish and 
English churches, that the former studiously disregard this festival as savor- 
ing of Catholicism. Thus I only lost the quiet solitude, the sweetest re- 
membrancer of the many happy anniversaries of this day in years that are 
past, and some of the vividness with which I should otherwise have called 
up the prospect of enjoying it with you a year hence. 

LIV. 

Edinburgh, Uh January, 1799. 
One difficulty, which even overcomes my natural inclination to take 
things easily, lies in the multitude of subjects which I have set myself to 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. Ill 

study and imprint on my memory in a single day, and, with one exception, 
on every day of the week, rendering a methodical and frugal arrangement 
of my time absolutely necessary. This in no wise accords with my love 
of freedom and dislike of restraint. I hope to bring my inclination under 
control : but with the imperfect mastery we generally obtain over our 
actions, even after effort, much necessarily remains undone ; we sacrifice 
one thing to another. You know that it was the perception of my need 
of gaining manly firmness, and ripeness of intellect, together with active 
energy, which decided me to take this journey. Provided this healthy 
state of mind be secured, it is not of much consequence whether one branch 
of abstract knowledge, which can be acquired any where by reflection, 
comes a little sooner or later into my possession. But I should be un- 
willing to miss the opportunity of gaining knowledge of a more local char- 
acter, and I should be ashamed of myself if, possessing and practicing a 
good method of study, I could not learn to observe, to understand, to think, 
and to write. My attention is much directed to chemistry at present ; not 
that I find much hiterest in it for its own sake, except as an exercise of 
ingenuity, but rather because it may be generally useful in application, 
and because of nothing is it so true, that it must either be understood 
thoroughly or not at all. 

In spite of a good deal of hard work my health is rather improving than 
giving way. I account for this by the healthy tone of my feelings, which 
always accompanies the vigorous activity of my intellect, and I try to 
maintain it by extreme sbnplicity of diet, and frequent exercise in the open 
air, which the dry rocky soil renders all the more agreeable. The city is 
surrounded by a wide plain, which is, however, high above the level of the 
sea; hence the air here is very pure, though often very keen from the 
cutting wind. The real mountains are still a long way off; who knows 
if I shall be able to get away from here soon enough to climb them ? 
August is the best time for a tour in the Highlands, and it will be im- 
possible for me to leave here before the end of that month. And then the 
time of my return will be drawing nigh. I wish it could be managed, for 
nature, when she denied me the vivid delight in soft smiling beauty, gave 
me a cordial enjoyment of the sublime. You would find yourself as much 
disappointed in your expectations of the people, as you would rejoice with 
your whole soul in the majesty of nature. The nation, both in the High- 
lands and Lowlands, is said to be given to the vice of drunkenness, and 
the common people not to be one whit better than with us, except that 
they are very hardy and warlike. The Scotch mountaineers have been 
savages from time immemorial, and now that civilization is gradually 
spreading among them, are necessarily much deteriorating, as all savages 
do. In order to know them on their favorable side, an acquaintance with 
their language is necessary, which, in my uncertainty about visiting their 
country, I must renounce the attempt to acquire, and to which all helps 
are strangely wanting. 

LV. 

Edinburgh, 15tk January, 1799. 

My days flow on pretty uniformly and simply, without much 

waste of time in society, but not quite without periods of weariness and 
exhaustion. Though I am seldom caught in the snare of spirit-killing 



112 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

parties, the interruptions arising from my ordinary intercourse are frequent ; 
and the difference between the English way of thinking and ours is so 
great, that communication by degrees comes to an end. You know, when 
we are choosing friends, we can not help looking for congeniality of views, 
trying to accommodate ourselves to theirs, and taking interest in their 
affairs, even when they do not enter into ours with the same warmth. To 
the last especially I am naturally inclined : but it is not possible for me to 
sympathize with my acquaintance in all their concerns. You know that 
there is a great want of this congeniality, even in the family where in 
other respects there is so much that invites me to consider myself as one 
of themselves. There is nothing artificial about them; that is a great 
point : but genuine life, interest in the noblest subjects, is wanting also, 
and has given way to a narrow circle of blindly received and invincible 
prejudices ; they have so adapted themselves to the world as it goes (and 
you would find the same everywhere here), that when its evils force them- 
selves upon them, nothing is so far from their thoughts as that the origin 
of these may be among the things to which they are themselves accus- 
tomed ; they rather imagine that they must arise from some change or 
innovation in the order of things, which is essentially bad. «So, likewise, 
authorities are every where here the most dangerous opponents, and inde- 
pendent thought is a stranger to all parties. Hence, in such circles, you 
may perhaps enjoy yourself sometimes, but you never receive a fresh im- 
pulse from them, and you must either get this from within, or go on for a 
time in the ordinary track 

Whatever may be my vocation in life, assuredly nothing can be more 
essential to the soundness of the understanding than a close and accu- 
rate insight into the great scenes of nature. Our mind is in a sickly state 
when we prefer to her any work of human hands or human tongues, or 
confine our interest to those spots which have been illustrated by human 
actions. 

Germany, as the province of the scholar, becomes dearer to me in a 
foreign country, although I am reminded at every step in how deep a 
slumber we, as a nation, are sunk. A close acquaintance with the 
English literature yields me a full conviction that, at the present moment, 
we may claim a decided superiority in almost every branch of letters, and 
this superiority is candidly confessed by many, especially among the more 
distinguished of the younger men, and even by some older scholars. In 
this place especially a great number are learning German. It must be con- 
fessed, however, that most singular prejudices prevail against our country. 

Formerly our learned men were regarded as very slow, narrow-minded 
fellows ; now people are inclined to pronounce them very clever men, but 
to look upon them as so many conspirators against the peace of the world ; 
an opinion that is adopted in a still more incomprehensible manner by some 
young profligates, and excites their delight as much as it does the abhorrence 
of other people. One of these asked me, with great astonishment, " Are 
you speaking seriously ? We thought that the German men of letters were, 
without exception, atheists, and we admire you on that account." All 
we want in order to measure ourselves, as far as it is good to do so, with 
these Britons, is to be more active, observant, and apt in seizing hold of the 
right moment. 

In the awakening of such a spirit I would gladly co-operate, and the 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 113 

plan of uniting all our friends in the same object has afforded me some 
pleasant day-dreams. 

LVI. 

Edinburgh, 11 th February, 1799. 

I have made the accquaintance lately of two persons who read German 
In no place in England is there so much attention paid to German lit- 
erature as here, and the number of those who know enough of German to 
read a little, and to procure books in our language, is not inconsiderable, 
but they only know such works as accident throws in their way. Kant's 
name is already very well known here ; this is owing to various Germans, 
who, with unequal capabilities, have taken upon themselves the apostolic 
office. His works are in the hands of several scholars of this town, and 
an Englishman has begun a translation of them, which he carried to a 
considerable length, but then got tired of the work. 

But the representations of his philosophy are curiously confused, and, 
unless I am very much deceived, it will never take root here. Among 
the young men there are several who mutually compliment each other with 
the name of metaphysicans ; but this class consists exclusively of mere 
empty praters, who have borrowed their fine attire from books, and are 
incapable of any true investigation. Their ideas are in such confusion 
that any development or elucidation by conversation is out of the ques- 
tion ; their results are detestable ; and their empty self-complacency con- 
temptible. Last week I could not avoid attending a breakfast where 
several of this sort were present, and Kant was referred to (which is the 
reason of my speaking of him here) ; it was a meeting which irritated and 
vexed me to such an extent that it almost made me ill. I had seen 
enough long before to be persuaded, and this meeting fully convinced me, 
that the praise which Jacobi accords to the philosophical spirit of the 
English nation is quite undeserved, and founded on ignorance. Those 
works, the neglect of which he reckoned as a great honor to the English 
nation, which with us are now forgotten, and have lost their authority, the 
disgusting sophistries of the Erench school of thirty years ago and more, are 
the chosen food of the daily increasing class of which I speak ; they are 
extending in circulation, and are even to be found in circulating libraries 
in the country, and the cast of thought that results from their influence 
only awaits political commotions to become dominant in the nation 

LVII. 

Edinburgh, 26th February, 1799. 

I have written nothing to you as yet about English literature. 

The reason is, that I do not see the new works. There are no reading 
rooms here, as there are in Paris or even in Copenhagen, in which trav- 
elers can meet with new books, and pamphlets, and literary periodicals. 

My hope of finding something analogous among the booksellers, whose 
shops are a meeting-place for acquaintance here, is disappointed; for 
there is nothing but gossiping in them ; and the publisher to whom Scott 
specially introduced me, does not seem to have made his arrangements at 
all with a view of enabling one to hear of new works, but rather in fact 
to neglect modern productions for older literature. But among all the new 
publications that have appeared during the last eight months, and fallen 



114 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

in my way, there is nothing much worthy of notice, except a voyage round 
the world. The English seem, in fact, to have no great author at present, 
not one whose words they wait for with eager anticipation, and can dwell 
on with love and enthusiasm. They have a good number of useful authors 
in the departments of mathematics and natural science. Philosophy is 
quite at a stand-still ; and among the writers I have referred to, there is 
not one of brilliant and commanding genius. There are many who write 
history, but the best of them do not rise above mediocrity. Still, on this 
and kindred topics, many points of interest are brought to light, which is 
to be ascribed, in great measure, to the peculiar position of this country, as 
containing within itself much with which the rest of Europe has no con- 
nection. Taste is at a very low ebb. The public devour and admire 
translations of all the unnatural and marvelous tales and satires of our 
German dramatists and romancers; and the original works most widely 
read are of the same cast. Schiller is the most admired German poet. 
Even among the political writings, for which England has always been so 
famous, nothing appears that excites, much less that deserves attention. 
One work, however, I would recommend to you ; at least the notices of it 
have raised my expectations very high. It is a work on education by a 
lady of middle age, who has been occupied in the education of members 
of her own family for twenty years. I have never seen a work on this 
subject which displays a sounder judgment, more unprejudiced views, and 
more penetrating observation, than this of Miss Edgeworth's, judging by 
the extracts from it that I have read. 

LVIII. 

Edinburgh, 1th May, 1799. 

Scotland stands, far and wide, in high repute for piety, and has 

done so from the commencement of the Reformation. The clergy in 
general are not good for much ; that is allowed by every one who knows 
the country. The piety of the people is, for the most part, mere eye-serv- 
ice — an accustomed formality without any influence on their mode of 
thinking and acting. They say prayers, learned by rote, at their meals, 
even before and after tea ; they observe all the ordinances of their Church, 
and consign Infidels, Deists, and Atheists to perdition, with the pride of a 
soul that knows heaven to be its own exclusive privilege. In short, I no 
longer blame Hume for judging the Presbyterians, in Charles the First's 
time, with harshness and scorn. I expected austerity among them, I find 
only rusticity. 

I live in such a house as I have described to you as an ordinary burgher's 
house ; in a sunny, spacious room. My host is a carpenter. He and his 
wife have many of the usual vices of the common people here. They are 
lazy, avaricious, unsociable; but withal, less dirty than most persons of 
their class. In the same house with me, a story higher, lives an iron- 
monger, to whom Moorhouse had an introduction from some tradespeople 
in Sheffield, the seat of the hardware manufacture. This man, who is in 
humble circumstances, and uneducated, has always shown himself well- 
meaning and honest ; he is a widower, and has several children, some of 
them scarcely grown up yet, who are all very well disposed. Although 
without a mother, they seem to keep their father's house in excellent order, 
and to be happy and industrious. Music is their only accomplishment. 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 115 

The nation has a peculiar taste and remarkable skill in this art, and the 
many and sweet national songs exercise and cherish the talent from which 
they have sprung. I have spent many a pleasant hour in listening to the 
singing of these good children, and always found myself a welcome visitor. 
This family are much more rigid in their piety than those who belong to 
the Established Church ; they are Baptists, and have retained the most 
extravagant notions of the fanatics of the last century in matters of au- 
sterity. To go to the theatre, to dance, to read worldly books, are all 
alike inexpiable crimes. Where education and habitual culture of the 
nobler faculties can not exist, such a way of thinking pleases me much 
more than the opposite, that of the people who give themselves up entirely 
to amusement. They look upon me as a great scholar, and, very likely, as 
an unbeliever 

LIX. 

Edinburgh, 4th, June, 1799. 

This journey has perhaps made me a more competent man of 

business than I had previously thought myself capable of becoming. 

From my ignorance of the internal economy of the state, and the vari- 
ous branches of industry that sustain its vitality, the details of public busi- 
ness often used to seem to me quite unintelligible, and always unconnect- 
ed ; but as employments of this kind acquire a meaning to me, they lose 
their unpleasantness, and I have to contend less with the periodical incli- 
nations to indolence which it so often requires intense exertion of will to 
overcome ; and as I have more knowledge of the subjects to which a states- 
man has to direct his attention (though heaven knows what may be my 
peculiar department) than many of those to whose hands they are com- 
mitted either have, or have any idea of obtaining, the consciousness that 
I do not hold a post for which I am unfit, by mere favor, will give me 
redoubled spirit and energy. I intend besides to avail myself diligently of 
the learned institutions which Copenhagen possesses. There are some 
splendid mineralogical collections there, and I shall try to master this in- 
teresting and important branch of natural history. And if we believe that 
Providence disposes the events of our life with a reference to the same 
ends that appear to us important in earthly plans, we may regard the 
postponement of an appointment in the university as a respite allowed me 
in which to make up for past neglect. If nothing unexpected occur, there- 
fore, we must, and ought to look upon our future fate as settled, at least 
for a good while to come. Our position in Copenhagen will certainly be, 
in many respects, a difficult and delicate one. But formerly other cir- 
cumstances, as you know, embittered my residence there, which we shall 
now be able to obviate. I shall now be capable of fulfilling all duties of 
ceremony, and your silent admonition will arm me with energy to perse- 
vere in the cultivation of my own powers. I could wish that some happy 
idea may be awakened within me some day, which, when developed, might 
grow into a noble, beautiful, and enduring intellectual work. I would 
this were possible. Works on the so-called exact sciences, even if I should 
advance so far, could not, from the measure of ray powers, and the present 
state of these sciences, ever become any thing of this kind. Philosophy ? 
He who presumes to raise his voice on this subject, without having the 
clearest vocation, will do little good thereby. History ? Its worth and 



116 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

importance may appear problematical ; and besides I see with sorrow that, 
owing to the inadequacy of our knowledge, chiefly caused by the ignorance 
and incapacity of those who had it in their power to have furnished to us the 
materials of history, it is almost impossible to carry out any thing like the 
comprehensive and magnificent plan with which my mind has long been 
occupied. Thus my prospects of authorship are very limited 

I read lately the biography of a very singular man, a Mr. Taylor of 
London, whom I may perhaps have mentioned to you before; for, though 
I never saw him, every thing that is said of him interests me as if I had 
known him. There is something fearful about his history and character, 
that makes one half afraid to seek his acquaintance. He grew up and 
passed his life under very unfavorable circumstances. Through a singular 
philosophical mysticism derived from the Platonists, he became an ortho- 
dox polytheist, and adherent of the mystical interpretation of the popular 
religion of the Greeks ; a kind of insanity which manifests itself with a 
strange sublimity in his translations of the Greek philosophers, and his 
own writings, especially his poems. "Well, this man made his choice in his 
earliest youth ; and the maiden who won the first and only love of the boy, 
became the wife of the youth, when her parents wanted to force her into a 
rich marriage. During more than a year they had only seven English 
shillings a week, which he earned by copying. And although their cir- 
cumstances somewhat improved, poverty was their companion during many 
after years. Yet their spirit was not broken. Taylor had much self-will, 
but, at the same time, much fortitude. But I blessed our fate that we 
were not born in this country. A similar lot would very likely have 
awaited us 5 for the crime of not being rich can only be atoned for here by 
the striving to become so ; and he who tries to live for his genius without 
this effort, if not pensioned by some great man or by government, in which 
case he must renounce his independence and his pride, will sink, heaven 
knows where ! I should like to bring the best writings of this extraordi- 
nary man for our Moltkes. 

On Saturday I think of going into Fifeshire to visit a very interesting 
landed proprietor who has given me a most friendly invitation 

LX. 

Edinburgh, 10th June, 1799. 

Among the acquaintance in Copenhagen who will probably visit 

us, dearest Amelia, the people we are wont to call interesting will form a 
class by themselves. They are generally the most agreeable in conversa- 
tion, and yet not those whom you would take to your heart. Men of the 
world, although intellectual and polished, often lose themselves entirely, 
and remain a mere brilliant form without heart and soul, and cold as 
death. I have often suffered myself to be too much carried away by the 
graceful qualities of such persons, and cultivated acquaintanceships of this 
kind more than was wise, and more than I could persevere in. Such char- 
acters are the production of capitals and courts, and will scarcely, if ever, 
be found beyond their precincts. It was my fate that such men always 
showed a particular liking for me ; and that I, in return, felt more attract- 
ed toward them than to any other acquaintance, because they could far 
excel every other sort of men in that animated flow of conversation, which 
is of all pleasures the greatest to me. For in all artificial relationships, 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 117 

where the barriers that divide you are not removed by personal attachment 
and community of interest, and the immediate concerns of each must re- 
main unapproached, the degree of pleasure to be found in intercourse must 
depend upon the vivacity of mind and the individuality exhibited by each; 
and the colder, more general, and more commonplace our conversation, 
the more indifferent we must be to each other. To you, who are more 
used to solitude, and so implacably averse to frivolity, perhaps such inter- 
course may be burdensome. But you need not stand in fear of it, dearest 
Amelia. Neither our inclinations nor our opinions will ever bring discord 
between us; and, in such matters, yours will be a law to me. 

LXI. 

Edinburgh, 17th June, 1799. 

I reckon it among the most important results of my travels, that 

the indifference with which I was in the habit of regarding the objects of 
nature around me has given way. It was a defect naturally connected 
with my short-sightedness ; but it constantly grew upon me, through the 
dreamy forgetfulness of reality in which from my childhood I was allowed 
to indulge. As you know, I sometimes pondered over it ; but without a 
change in my circumstances, I could hardly have succeeded in overcoming 
it. This indifference has now vanished. For some time past I have taken a 
lively interest in mineralogy, and in fact it is this branch of natural his- 
tory which has brought the others also into favor with me. This interest is 
in great measure owing to the nature of the country, just as the opposite 
character of the land in which we live must produce the opposite feelings. 

I have always, when I have had occasion to allude to Playfair, spoken 
of him with the sincere respect, with which his distinguished merit, and 
upright character, have inspired me from the first. But now it is long 
since you have seen any mention of him, and it has been with him as 
formerly with other men of high standing, for whom I had a real deference 
and veneration, but from whom I expected no indulgence, supposing them 
to entertain too high an opinion of my talents, yet one not excited by 
affection, just as it was, a year and a half ago, with the good old Hege- 
wisch — that is, my respect was mingled with a certain degree of dread. 
I felt I could not come up to my own expectations, much less to his. 
Thus it came tp pass that I seldom saw him. By accident, however, I 
found myself alone with him a few days ago. In the course of our con- 
versation, we touched upon mineralogy. He offered to take a walk with me 
some evening soon, round the rocks on the east side of the city, which are 
very remarkable. He kept his word. "We walked about under the steep, 
time-worn walls of the cliffs, and he propounded his theory of their primitive 
origin and nature, and of the character and composition of the different 
kinds of rock. It was one of the most instructive and agreeable evenings I 
have enjoyed this year. Unfortunately, he is going to England before long. 

My little excursion is put off till next Saturday. 

LXII. 

Edinburgh, 2i July, 1799. 
I wanted to write to you on the anniversary of our last parting, but was 
reluctantly compelled to yield to an invitation, where the insipidity of 
the conversation only gave me a sense of emptiness and desolation, after 



118 MEMOIR OE N1EBUHE,. 

Which I went to the Scotts, hoping to he refreshed hy their greater cordial- 
ity. I went there with the wish and hope of pouring out my feelings for 
once about what lay nearest to my heart. Ever since I have written to 
you about this kind-hearted family, however, I have complained to you of 
their reserve as to those communications in which the heart expands. It 
is quite a national trait not to dwell upon what concerns us personally, 
upon what fills our heart ; and it is as unnatural to them to hear me speak 
of the topics upon which I am feeling strongly, as it would be to do the 
same themselves. How I shall bless the time when this constraint will 
be over — when in my own land, with you and our friends, even by virtue 
of our national usages, I shall listen to the joys and sorrows of others, not 
as a mere piece of news, but as a communication to which I have a right, 
and be as sure of a welcome when I lay open my own heart ! I am far 
from attributing it to coldness in these good people. It is altogether 
national, and it is the same with every one I have known here, whatever 
their rank or calling, learning, or sex. Hence, also, tediousness is seldom 
utterly banished from social intercourse. It has quite surprised me, for 
example, that if you meet a person in whose family some one has been 
taken ill, he will hardly allude to it, beyond a short answer to your inqui- 
ries, or speak of it with any feeling. In this way, it must be allowed, 
people may easily r e independent of each other. I believe firmly that the 
Scotts love their children — that Playfair is a good father; and yet the 
former only speak of them because they have them with them in the 
evenings (which is saying much here), and the boys themselves make their 
presence known ; the latter behaves exactly as if his boy were not in the 
room. So far from inviting me to speak of my connections, so far from 
Mr. Scott making any inquiries as to my father's position (though he is 
nevertheless as much attached to him as possible), they have met every 
attempt on my part to talk to them upon these subjects, with a silence, 
which admits of no other explanation, than that it is not in good taste to 
say much about such things. They have never once asked after my 
mother and sister ! My friends I have only been able to mention in so 
far as they are connected with literature ; for example, Jacobi. Though 
probably good Mrs. Scott may see danger to religion and the church in all 
such philosophical personages. 

LXIII. 

Edinburgh, 10th August 1799. 

I must really now begin to tell you what I have been doing with myself 
since I last wrote; how I came to leave Edinburgh, what I was about hi 
the country when I wrote to you, and how it happens that I am here again. 
I can not give you all the details now, but will send you all the missing 
particulars in my next. 

I was very unwell the day before C.'s lectures concluded, and the day 
itself. In this condition I went to the lecture, with which my whole con- 
nection with the University is brought to a close. He hastened to con- 
clude, as I had expected. I waited to the end in order at last to bind the 
Proteus to an interview. I went up to him, and we got into conversa- 
tion. He said he was on the point of going to his little estate, and asked 
me to accompany him. A more inviting opportunity could not have 
offered, for it is difficult to get hold of him. There is quite a swarm of 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 119 

acquaintance and visitors round him, for he has the dangerous merit of 
making himself interesting to his friends. On the road, and in the country, 
I could have him to myself. He only spoke of a few days, and this ac- 
corded with my wishes. We had very stormy weather on our journey. 
The occasion of his trip was a fair in the town of Kinross. His country- 
house is a little old cottage, which has been enlarged from time to time; 
small and neat. Unhappily, some one was there already waiting for him, 
and thus our first evening was almost lost. I comforted myself with 
thinking of the next day, when I could ride with him to the town, and 
then on our return be with him for some days. 

At breakfast time, C. began to beg me to wait his return here; he 
should be back in one or two days, and meanwhile I could make myself 
acquainted with the arrangements of his farm, as I had often expressed a 
wish to do. Besides, he would give me an introduction, of which I could 
avail myself during his absence, to a landed proprietor in the neighborhood, 
who had the direction of some interesting works. I should have enough to 
learn ; and besides, there were plenty of books for me. One easily believes 
what one wishes. I staid behind. At first I enjoyed my solitude very 
much. I sauntered about, read a good deal, indulged in my own thoughts, 
looked about me, observed much ; the children were my society, and it 
gave me pleasure to be able to win their love with the trifles which attract 
at their innocent age. The poor children had lost their mother, of whom 
her friends speak in unusually high terms. Her remembrance, too, lives 
undimmed in his heart. But though these poor children are left very 
much to themselves, it is delightful to see how kind and loving they are 
with each other. 

The weather had now become a downright tempest, and it was impos- 
sible to quit the house. Meanwhile, day after day passed, and my friend 
did not come. My patience and good-temper gave way. I knew C. too 
well to ascribe it to an intentional slight on his part. When the weather 
cleared, I found that the gentleman to whom he had recommended me, was 
no longer at home. 

At length, yesterday, I came back in an ill-humor. My first errand was 
to my truant friend. I have not room to tell you to-day how he came to 
break his word. I do not love him the less for it. Our interview was full 
of emotion. 

LXIV. 

Edinburgh, 13th August, 1799. 

I will not put off telling you what prevented C. from fulfilling 

his promise. It is really an unhappy affair — an approaching marriage, 
not as yet made public, which he has resolved on against his inclination, 
in order to provide care and education for his children. He told me this 
candidly himself. I should tremble for the consequences, were not the poor 
women here so accustomed to neglect, that no doubt his wife will expect 
nothing beyond respect. Attention she certainly will not receive. Amuse- 
ment, and every thing that can fan the flame of his temperament, is a 
necessary to him, and thereby he trifles away a great part of the respect 
(for every one that knows him must love him), which is really his due. 
Still I assure you that he is one of the most eminent and best men I know 
here, only he should not have been born in this country. 



120 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

LXV. 

Bolton in East Lothian, 19^. August, 1799. 

This last week has already brought with it more pleasure than 

the monotonous months I spent in the city. The rare enjoyment of find- 
ing my expectations surpassed, and, what is far more, the simple hearti- 
ness with which I was received by people, with whom I could exchange 
respect in the first hour, has given me quite a new view of the nation, and 
a liking for it, which nothing before had called out. I can now return with 
the conviction of having obtained a really correct view of the country, and 
with a just and cordial love of its inhabitants 

LXVI. 

Douglas, Tuesday. 

I was interrupted yesterday evening by the household arrangements of 
my good hosts 

In Haddington, the chief town of this county, Mr. Stevenson, the 
acquaintance I have before mentioned to you, was waiting for me, in 
order to conduct me to the son of the man in whose house he had passed 
a year to learn farming. I expected to see a sturdy, jolly-looking rustic ; 
I was half-abashed when a mild, refined young man entered the room, 
whose manners would have qualified him to appear in the most polished 
circles. We, of the book- world, are apt to fancy that a farmer or an artist 
will not pay much attention to us, if we seem inclined to meddle with the 
details of his calling, but probably only laugh at us in his sleeve. Mr. 
Adam Bogun testified by his whole behavior that he felt otherwise, and 
was sincerely glad to see his unusual visitor. A German tourist was to 
him as new an object, as a farmer from the most highly cultivated district 
in Scotland was to me. I soon conceived a warm interest in him, and 
felt convinced that he would grudge no pains to oblige me. Pleasure 
beamed in his countenance when he was able to show me a kindness, when 
he saw that he had given me a pleasure, or that I took an interest in his 
circumstances and his family ; and when we parted, the tears stood in his 
eyes. As the weather on Saturday was so boisterous that traveling was 
out of the question, I willingly remained with him. Before the morning 
was over we were no longer strangers, and we sat together alone by the 
fire, which the horrible weather rendered necessary, chatting so familiarly, 
or employing ourselves with so little restraint, that my spirits were not 
cast down by the gloomy prospect of having to make my tour in such 
weather. As acquaintanceship in the country does not proceed at such a 
sleepy pace as in the town, where you have only too much of it, thd weather 
did not prevent a neighbor from coming to spend the evening, though he 
lived a mile off. He was likewise an excellent young man, and had more 
education than my other young friend ; had seen more of the world too ; 
but he was such a fanatic in politics, that for several years he had forgot- 
ten his own business, and even now injures his peace and character with 
his foolish notions. I must pass over the Sunday that I spent in his house 
(for the weather still prevented me from continuing my journey), where I 
met a curious adventurer, whose loquacity overpowered us all ; but did not 
prevent my accepting his invitation to call upon him. On Monday I went 
with my worthy young friend Bogun to see his father. The old man had 
risen, by his own exertions, from a very humble origin to considerable 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 121 

opulence. His manners are still pretty much those of the class to which 
he at first belonged, but with all their excellences, and natural good breed- 
ing characterized his family. A very different reception awaited me at the 
house of a man of noble birth, a Mr. Buchan Hepburn, to whom I had a 
letter of high recommendation. Whether it was that he looked down on 
my companion, Bogun, and therefore on me, or that he did not choose to 
insult with our presence a party of noble guests whom he had invited to 
dinner, he began immediately to tell us in very plain terms that he had 
scarcely any time to spare for us, on account of this party; he would show 
us his fields, but must hurry through them. I hastened away from him, 
taking leave of Bogun also, to Sir John Murray, of Kirkland's Hill, a coun- 
try gentleman to whom Mr. Scott had given me an introduction. I was 
received by a cheerful, healthy-looking, elderly man, in a room filled with 
books and papers, so that it looked like the study of a scholar. He left 
me in no doubt that he placed full faith in his friend's recommendation. 
He conducted me to his family, who were assembled in a very handsome 
dining-room ; a mother, and four daughters, very near in age, the youngest 
a child who had done growing, the eldest just attained to the gravity of wo- 
manhood. I told them at once of the reception I had previously met with, 
which did not surprise them, but they strove with all zeal to make amends 
for it, and we soon got into a very animated and familiar conversation. 

I have told you how very much the two sexes keep at a distance from 
each other in this country, when they meet in parties in the towns, and 
how scrupulously every appearance of intimacy is avoided. Here, German 
manners were in fashion, and the young ladies were as artlessly friendly as 
if they had learnt of you and your sisters, that it is a narrow-minded preju- 
dice to refuse ordinary confidence, and marks of sympathy in conversation, 
because a stranger happens to be a man. Only one of the number was 
good-looking. Beauty is extremely rare in Scotland. This one and the 
eldest displayed much intelligence and a careful education. What their 
father has accomplished on his farm exceeded every thing that I have yet 
seen. I had never met with any garden so carefully tended, so well laid 
out, or so cleverly managed. All this has been done without the prospect 
of bequeathing it to his children, and for an avaricious landlord. He had 
raised the produce of his fields four-fold in thirteen years, brought every 
thing from a neglected condition to the highest cultivation, planted hedges, 
diked in a strip of land, and has now only got to keep it up to its present 
state. His lease is for thirty years. He has brought up his two sons to 
agriculture ; put one in charge of two outlying farms, and the other is 
learning under his own eye. They are all very busy in their home duties, 
and happy with each other. They would all please you, even the some- 
what rough mother ; for if she transgresses the rules of polished society, she 
does it with so much good-humor that you can only laugh. She smokes 
her pipe, laughs at it herself, but is not ashamed of it, for as she says, " it 
is no sin," and seems to enjoy existence more than most people. I meant 
to have left the next day, but I staid. We parted with the promise to 
meet again. Against that time Murray will write out a set of rules and 
experiments for me, and engaged me in return to write him an account of 
our methods of agriculture, at some future period. I have really learnt 
much more of these matters than you would suppose. I am quite familiar 
with the agricultural economy of Scotland, and I am convinced that I 
F 



122 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

should be able to apply what I have learnt on another soil. By the end 
of next week I shall be in Edinburgh again. 

XL VII. 

Edinburgh, 31st August, 1799. 

It would scarcely be possible, perhaps, for a large agricultural pop- 
ulation to earn for themselves a more respectable character in their calling, 
than that which belongs to most of the inhabitants of the district through 
ivhich I traveled. True insight into their business, activity, intelligence, 
and an unblemished reputation are the characteristics, I really believe, of 
the greater number of the farmers ; and many of them possess a number 
of very good books, are fond of reading, and speak as well as the towns- 
folk (the Scotch, indeed, in general, do not speak well) . Public-houses, or 
hotels, in which our country people degrade themselves, are only to be found 
in the widely separated villages, or in towns. For the villages are almost 
every where broken up, and this of itself keeps the laborers from social ex- 
cesses, as they live round the farmstead in little cottages, consisting of one 
room, which is at once their cooking, living, and sleeping room. The ob- 
ject of their aspiration is to possess the reputation, the manners, and the 
comforts of a respectable station. They spend a great deal upon their 
houses, and often upon their gardens, however short a time they have them 
in their possession. 

If I were a landlord here, I should not make much profit, for it seems to 
me an unjustifiable thing to drive away such people, by over-exaction, from 
the soil which they have done so much to improve and embellish ; and it 
has excited my indignation to see that this is not at all taken into account. 
Certainly one would be far from desiring that a whole nation should resem- 
ble them, or seriously wishing to take up one's abode among them. Still 
the first might not be so bad after all, and as to the latter, we should only 
find in the long run, that we had not chosen the better part, if we adopted 
their tone in all things. The number of their ideas is limited, and it is 
inevitable but that many things should be perfectly indifferent to them, 
which stir our whole hearts ; that they should have an inordinate amount 
of phlegm. I even feel myself that my stay here, and my occupation with 
the things of daily life, has made me liable to the contagion, and therefore 
should not wish to be the associate of these very worthy men for any length 
of time. Perhaps it has done me a little harm already ; perhaps it is with 
the dwelling on the things of common life, as with the composition of the 
ah that we breathe, the life-giving part of which, when pure, seems to be 
only fit for another world, and would consume our life here. 

LXVIII. 

AFTER HIS RETURN FROM ENGLAND. 
TO AMELIA. 

Copenhagen, 18th April, 1800. 
-.,.,. Schimmelman and others will see that a suitable salary is attached 
to the places they are endeavoring to get for me. Every thing is dear, 
certainly, very dear, but I am in no anxiety. We both like a simple way 
of life, and do not seek or require amusements. Shelter, food, fire, clothing, 
and joyful love will make our all. We shall enjoy a fine day in the fields 



VISIT TO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 123 

as much as in a country house. Sophocles and Homer will he our substi- 
tute for the theatre ; and the ahsence of visitors will not bring, but prevent 
weariness and ennui. The Reventlows, Bernstorff, the Rantzaus, the Kun- 
zens, the Desaugiers are all very friendly. 

LXIX. 

26<.h April, 1800. 

My darling Amelia, I rejoice in my good fortune with feelings 

which are not unworthy of your love. It is now not only a duty, but my 
most pressing necessity, to keep all my powers on the stretch here (where 
there are so many examples to lure me to indolence of mind and lukewarm- 
ness of heart), and to walk circumspectly along the brink of the precipice. 
I bless the aera that will end this busy yet unsettled life. Idleness and 
aimless occupation will henceforth be no longer possible, and with my in- 
tellect calm and strong — with the consciousness of capacity for action, and 
of being equal to my own requirements — that sense of life, on whose in- 
tensity depends the practice of all that is right and noble, will awake once 
more with youthful vigor. A consciousness of love and warmth will be 
shed over each moment, that will make toil a pleasure. A life in the spirit ; 
the only life in which I can he quite happy, but in which I may he more 
so than most. 

LXX. 

29th April, 1800. 

Many considerations have been suggested to me by what you tell 

me about the relation between parents and children, in certain families of 
your acquaintance. What a glorious thing is that true equality, when it 
is unbroken by pride, self-erected barriers, and the love of ruling on the one 
side ! It might so well subsist between parents and children, and then their 
mutual relation would rest on a sure and lasting basis. But, generally, 
parents are more inclined to make their children minister to their own vanity, 
than to be moderate in their demands upon them, to keep them unexacting 
on their side, and, if possible, inspire a sense of their own superiority, with- 
out attempting to keep their children under undue restraint. 

As regards our affairs, our income will be very limited at first ; hut after- 
ward it will depend on my own exertions to make it an ample one. The 
Duke of Augustenburg has already expressed to Schimmelman his intention 
of offering me the Greek professorship if it should fall vacant. But, as far 
as money is concerned, the prospects are better in public life. However, 
we will not trouble ourselves with these considerations at present. We will 
content ourselves with our lot, and not suffer ourselves to be disturbed by 
the fears, which Baggesen and others of my acquaintance think to excite, 
when they say that it is impossible to live here under 1500 thalers a year.* 
I am quite convinced that we shall be able to manage. Do not fear that 
I shall suffer myself to be alarmed hy the complaints and apprehensions 
which I have so often to listen to from others. I know what will make us 
happy, and what we can renounce without a painful effort, or longing 
wishes. Where love is the animating principle there are no dark moments 
of this kind. I look at our dear Moltkes in the beginning of their married 

life 

* Equal to about 255Z. 



CHAPTER V. 

NIEBUHR'S MARRIAGE AND OFFICIAL LIFE IN COPENHAGEN 
FROM 1800 to 1806. 

In May, 1800, Niebuhr returned to Holstein and married; in 
June he took his wife to Copenhagen, and entered on Iris double 
official duties on the 1st of July. 

The young couple were in the highest degree happy in each 
other. Niebuhr writes thus to Madame Hensler, in the month of 
August : " Amelia's heavenly disposition, and more than earthly 
love, raise me above this world, and, as it were, separate me from 
this life. 

" A life of full employment, combined with serenity of mind, 
which we shall secure by rigidly maintaining our seclusion, pro- 
tects and heightens the capacity for happiness. Happiness is a 
poor word : find a better ! Even the toils and sacrifices of busi- 
ness contribute to the calm self-approval, which to me is the 
essential condition of enduring happiness. Amelia's cheerfulness, 
her contentment with her lot, untroubled by any wish for some- 
thing beyond it, afford me as heartfelt joy as the contrary would 
give me pain. Her presence and conversation keep my heart at 
rest and my mind healthy. Thus I am gradually recovering from 
the impression made upon me in past times by the delusions and 
contradictions of the world." 

Harmonizing in all their tastes, their lives flowed on calmly 
and quietly ; they occasionally mixed in fashionable society at the 
houses of Count Schimmelman, and a few others, but beyond that 
only joined in small parties of intimate friends. When Niebuhr 
was not engaged in his official duties, he returned to his favorite 
classic authors. His wife entered warmly into all that interested 
him. In the evenings he often related stories to her from the 
ancient writers, or read aloud to her, or looked over with her 
what he had himself been writing. 

In the autumn of the same year, the University of Kiel offered 
him a professorship. He declined it for the present ; partly be- 
cause he thought it would be ungrateful to Schimmelman to re- 
sign his situation so soon ; partly because he feared it would be 
regarded as an unbecoming mark of partiality if he were thus 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 125 

preferred to older men ; partly because he really enjoyed many 
branches of his present occupation. He saw that he was of use, 
and his merits were recognized by his superiors. 

In September he heard through Madame Hensler of F. Leopold 
Stolberg's conversion to Catholicism, which caused so much ex- 
citement in the circle of his friends. The purity of Stolberg's 
motives for this change is beyond a doubt. His natural cast of 
mind was deeply pious. The rationalism, which prevailed at 
that time in the Protestant Church of Germany, shocked and 
pained him to the last degree ; and, believing that there existed 
no elements of regeneration within its pale, he threw himself into 
the arms of a church, which at least afforded more satisfaction to 
his devotional feelings. By this step he not only sacrificed many 
advantages for his family, but lost the friendship of several of 
those to whom he was most warmly attached, especially Voss and 
Jacobi, who carried their expressions of censure to actual bitter- 
ness. Voss in particular continued his attacks upon him for many 
years; so late as 1817 he published a pamphlet entitled, "Wie 
F. L. Stolberg unfrei geworden ist."^ Niebuhr did not justify 
Stolberg's change ; it grieved him deeply ; he regarded it as the 
aberration of a tendency in itself beautiful and noble : but he was 
able to transport himself into Stolberg's point of view, and was 
convinced that no unworthy motive could have actuated him, 
which alone would have warranted the harsh treatment he re- 
ceived from many of his friends. Therefore, much as Niebuhr 
was attached to Voss and Jacobi, he could not at all approve of 
their conduct in this instance, which was indeed often a source of 
regret to him, the more so as the form of Catholicism which Stol- 
berg had adopted by no means rendered him illiberal toward his 
Protestant friends, nor detached his sympathies from the sincerely 
pious among them. 

Niebuhr was intending at this time to take up the study of 
Grecian history in his leisure hours, and write an account of the 
various constitutions among the Greeks. This was a design he 
had cherished for many years, indeed almost from his boyhood. 
But his studies were to some extent interrupted by the ill health 
of his wife, who suffered long and severely from a complaint in the 
eyes, during which time most of his leisure hours were spent in 
trying to amuse her. They passed this winter with no other draw- 
* How F. L. Stolberg became a slave. 



126 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

back to their quiet and peaceful enjoyment of life's purest pleas- 
ures. But the spring of 1801 brought with it threatening storms. 

It is well known how deeply the English government con- 
sidered itself aggrieved by the armed neutrality of the northern 
powers of Europe — how acts of hostility were practiced on the 
Danish vessels, and even on the colonies, without any formal 
declaration of war, and how at last, in March, 1801, Nelson and 
Parker appeared in the Sound, and proclaimed war at the moment 
of attack. Niebuhr watched the gradual approach of this calam- 
ity, and witnessed the attack and the bombardment. His feel- 
ings on this occasion, and the intensity of his sympathies, will be 
seen by the extracts from his letters to Madame Hensler. After 
this mournful episode, this year elapsed without any alteration in 
Niebuhr' s circumstances and occupations. In the summer of 
1802, he and his wife visited their friends in Holstein, who all 
rejoiced to see the happiness and serenity which beamed in his 
looks. He performed the duties of his office with ease, pleasure, 
and success ; the sciences were a recreation to him in his leisure 
hours, and the cheerfulness and affection of his wife afforded a 
satisfaction and repose to his heart, which made it impossible for 
gloom or vexation to take any lasting hold on him, although with 
the great sensitiveness of his nature he could not always avoid 
passing annoyances. 

During the winter of 1802-3, Niebuhr studied Arabic with 
great zeal, and surprised his father on his birthday with the trans- 
lation of a part of Elwakidi's History of the Conquest of Asia 
under the first Kaliphs, from a manuscript in the library of Copen- 
hagen. As he soon after became engaged in new and more ex- 
tended official occupations, time failed him for the continuance of 
this work, but he did not relinquish the intention of completing it, 
for many years, and preserved the manuscript with that view. 
He also gave several lessons a week during this winter (for which 
he received no remuneration), on historical and philological sub- 
jects, to a nephew of Count Schimmelman's, and two other young 
men, sons of his acquaintance. 

In the spring of 1802, he was sent by the Danish government 
into Germany, to transact some financial business which obliged 
him to visit Hamburgh, Leipsic, Frankfort, and Cassel. His wife 
accompanied him. On their way home they spent some weeks in 
Holstein. 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 127 

On Niebuhr's return to Copenhagen, Count Schimmelman in- 
formed him that he was destined to a more important office. He 
thus alludes to the subject in a letter to Madame Hensler, written 
in October : " On my return, I heard from Count Schimmelman 
news of some importance to me. My colleague at the Board of 
Trade is going to resign his post, and his duties are to be trans- 
ferred to me, but without any alteration of my title or salary. . . . 
My work will be considerably augmented by it, which I am glad 
of, for it is a well-ascertained fact, that the ability to work grows 
with the number of things one has to get through. I do not fear 
that it will prevent me, at least in the long run, from pursuing 
those studies which are my delight and my mental aliment." 

The duties of his new office were very onerous ; but as he had 
great aptitude in learning business, and could seize the details of 
a subject almost at a glance, he worked at once with great ease 
and great certainty. Thus he still found leisure for scholastic 
pursuits. The following passage occurs in a letter written in 
1803 : " I have had as much to do before at particular times, but 
never for a constancy. And I must look forward to its being the 
same for some years to come. If I can but keep my health, there 
will still be time left for those occupations which most deserve our 
preference, though we may learn to like any that tax our powers 
enough. There is a reward for a man engaged in active public 
life, which I am now reaping, viz., a fair fame, and a position 
that commands the confidence even of the unlearned among my 
fellow-citizens. Hence my employments become a positive pleas- 
ure to me. The most intricate grow easy, and I can get through 
them in a very short time. ... I am at work on a treatise, as I 
wrote you before in few words. Its subject is the nature of the 
Roman public domains, their distribution, colonization, agrarian 
laws, &c. It is an interesting question, and I think I have taken 
a more accurate view of it, than has been reached before. I used 
to busy myself with such questions when I was still at Kiel. I 
wish I were as free from worldly care, and as open to new im- 
pressions now as I was then ; but how much that has happened 
since that time has turned out better than I ventured to hope." 

ISTiebuhr's colleague, Obelay, died in January, 1804 ; he was 
the First Director of the Bank, and practically the only acting 
member of the Directory. His office was immediately transferred 
to Niebuhr, who. at the same time, by the express desire of the 



128 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

Crown Prince, undertook the direction of the East India depart- 
ment of the Board of Trade, the affairs of which had fallen 
into confusion ; and he also became a member of the Standing 
Commission for the Affairs of Barbary, of which he had hitherto 
acted as secretary. His official standing and his income were 
considerably raised by these changes. The amount of his labor 
was now much increased, particularly by business connected with 
the commercial world, and the credit and circulation of the paper 
currency. The soundness of his views and the judiciousness of 
his measures were generally recognized, and his management of 
the affairs of the bank was so universally approved, that his sub- 
sequent departure from his native country was the subject of 
general and lasting regret. He was not merely respected by his 
subordinates in office, on account of his sagacity, industry, and 
rigid integrity, but really loved by them for the kindness with 
which he treated them, and the interest which he took in their 
welfare. Many of them shed tears when he took his leave of 
them. 

Even at this busy period, he never quite lost sight of his favor- 
ite studies, or forsook them entirely for more than a short time 
together. The mornings, from ten to three, or four, were usually 
spent at his various offices, or, on foreign post days, on the ex- 
change. Then came the drawing up of reports, the large busi- 
ness correspondence and the necessary verbal communications with 
other officials. When he returned home at night after all this he 
was often exhausted both in body and mind ; but if he got en- 
gaged at once in an interesting book or conversation, he was soon 
refreshed, and would then study till late at night. Ancient his- 
tory formed the principal part of his reading at this time, but he 
did not overlook the productions of modern literature. He hailed 
with joy every new work of importance, and put it into the hands 
of his wife. When they were first married, he used to read Greek 
with her, but afterward the weakness of her eyes forbade the 
necessary effort on her part, and she also found the acquisition of 
the grammar tedious, and therefore gave up the further study of 
this language ; but in every other respect he always found in her 
the fullest participation in all that interested him. Niebuhr had 
little intercourse at this time with men of letters, as his engage- 
ments led him into a widely different sphere of society. He, 
however, kept up his acquaintance with two of his earliest friends, 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 129 

Miinter, the celebrated orientalist and arch geologist, who was at 
that time Professor of Theology in Copenhagen, and Moldenhawer, 
the head librarian at the Royal Library in Copenhagen, and a 
distinguished exegetical theologian. 

The summer of 1804 was a particularly busy period for Niebuhr. 
He writes thus to Madame Hensler : "As far as regards business, 
I confidently hope to be able to do something toward bringing our 
finances to the height of prosperity, although, perhaps, not im- 
mediately or directly. Last winter was by no means a quiet one 
for us. Even on Sundays, I could sometimes hardly get time to 
collect my thoughts a little. The winter before, I used to cheer 
and invigorate my mind with the study of ancient history. Now, 
that is out of the question. I am obliged to see and talk with so 
many people ; some of them interest me by their quickness and 
intelligence, so that I enjoy the time I spend with them to a cer- 
tain extent ; but in the long run, we always find that where there 
is no bond of affection, intercourse is sure to lose its charm, and 
often becomes wearisome." On the week days, he had now 
scarcely ever time for more than a little occasional light reading. 
The Sundays he devoted as far as possible to his private studies, 
which made those days real festivals to him. In the autumn he 
began to get rather more leisure, which he employed in continuing 
the before-mentioned treatise on the Roman domains. 

The intelligence of the Austrian calamities at Ulm and Auster- 
litz, in the autumn of 1805, which deeply affected him, led him 
to peruse the Philippics of Demosthenes afresh. The similarity 
of the position of Greece at that time to the state of Europe, and 
of Philip's growing power, tyranny, and oppression, to the proceed- 
ings of Napoleon, struck him so forcibly, that he translated and 
printed the first Philippic. 

Toward the end of 1805, Niebuhr was asked by a distinguished 
Prussian statesman, then visiting Copenhagen on a mission from 
his Government, whether he felt inclined to enter the Prussian 
service, in the department of finance. Some weeks later he re- 
ceived a direct inquiry on the subject by letter. He had never 
before thought of exchanging the Danish service for any other, and 
even now he would scarcely have replied otherwise than by a 
direct negative, had he not just at that time felt himself aggrieved 
by the intended appointment of a young nobleman to a place in 
the finance department to which he thought that he had a prior 



130 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

claim, both from his official standing and past services, and also 
because it had been previously promised to him, subject to the 
approval of the Crown Prince. This incident excited in him for 
the moment a strong feeling of irritation. He thought that it 
closed the door to any further advance in his public career : he 
looked forward to being burdened forever with an overwhelming 
mass of details, and, what stung him most deeply, found himself 
slighted in the very quarter, where he reckoned with the greatest 
security on an unprejudiced appreciation, and a just approval of 
his services. When, therefore, these proposals were renewed by 
Prussia, he felt very keenly the contrast between the estimation 
in which he was held abroad, and the way in which he was 
undervalued at home. Yet he underwent a long and severe 
struggle with his attachment to his native land, ere he could 
reconcile himself even in thought to the possibility of leaving it. 
His answer to the proposition at the time was quite indecisive, 
" that he could not commit himself on the subject, particularly as 
he did not know what appointment was referred to." The winter 
of 1805-6 elapsed without his hearing any thing more on the 
subject. It had not occupied his mind much after the first 
moment ; and besides, the storm of Ins anger had sunk to rest ; 
his old relationships had been renewed, and nothing more had 
been done respecting the appointment of the young man referred 
to. Yet, by frequent repetition, the idea of leaving his native 
country had grown less strange to him, and a consideration of the 
satisfaction which he would derive from a wider sphere of action, 
and a release from all the minor details of business, forced itself 
upon him at times. Added to this, the condition of the Danish 
finances, which had been much deteriorated through the immense 
military establishments necessary in order to maintain a neutral 
position, often caused him great uneasiness. When therefore, in 
March, 1806, a new and unexpected proposal reached him, to 
enter on the joint directorship of the first bank in Berlin, and of 
the Seehandlung,^ with the prospect and promise of further pro- 
motion, the struggle in his mind was renewed. He communicated 

* A privileged commercial company at Berlin, founded in 1772, for the pro- 
motion of foreign commerce, then in a very languishing condition. The exclu- 
sive possession of the silk trade of Prussia, and of the trade in wax, was secured 
to it, by charter, for twenty years. The capital was raised by the sale of 2400 
shares, of which the King had 2100, and only 300 were offered* to the public. In 
1793, the number of shares was increased to 3000, and the Seehandlung lost its 
monopoly of the wax trade, but was allowed to engage in general mercantile 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 131 

the proposal to Count Scliimmelman, who, unwilling as he was 
to lose him, recognized the advantages it presented, particularly 
as he could offer him nothing equal to it in Copenhagen. What 
weighed most with him on the side of acceptance, was the release 
from matters of detail, which he feared would permanently weaken 
the powers of his mind. In this post, the directorial labors, and 
the general guidance and control of affairs, were all that would 
devolve upon him. 

While these negotiations were still pending, Count Hardenberg 
left the Prussian ministry, and was succeeded by Count Haug- 
witz.* At the same time rumors got afloat, which seemed not 
improbable, of an alliance between France and Prussia. This 
deterred Niebuhr from proceeding with the negotiation, both on 
account of his deep-rooted aversion to any connection with the 
then existing French government, and also the probability that 
such an alliance might lead to a collision between Prussia and 
the Northern courts, including Denmark. He therefore wrote 
word to the Prussian minister of finance, Yon Stein, that it would 
be impossible for him to leave his native land at such a critical 
moment, and while political relations were in such an uncertain 
condition : but if delay were possible, he would accept the post 
when peace was restored in Northern Europe. Stein answered 
him quite satisfactorily as regarded any hostile intentions toward 
Denmark, and allowed him to delay his acceptance till he could 
free himself from his present engagements. He now decided to 
send in his resignation to the Danish government, which, after a 
fruitless attempt to retain him, was accepted. 

Niebuhr took this step with a heavy heart, less on account of 
the fearful struggle already then visibly impending over Prussia, 
than because it severed him forever from his fatherland. Den- 
mark had been the cradle of his infancy — Holstein the home of 
his childhood ; here he had passed his youth and received his 
education, and it contained all who were dearest to him on earth, 

and banking operations, and its creditors were guaranteed by tbe State. It 
lost immensely by large advances made to the State in 1804, 1805, and 1806, but 
after 1816 gradually retrieved its affairs. 

* Hardenberg always opposed the treaty of Schonbrunn, signed by Haug- 
witz, December 15th, 1805, by which the Prussians agreed to cede Neufchatel, 
Anspach, and Cleve, in return for Hanover. After the treaty between Prussia 
and France, signed at Paris on the 15th February, 1806, by which Prussia 
entered into close alliance with France, Napoleon forced the King of Prussia to 
dismiss Hardenberg, whom he knew to be opposed to the French interest. — See 
Stein's Leben, vol. ii. p. 323. 



132 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

except his wife. For the future he could no longer share their 
common interests, but must acquire new ones, which were as yet 
foreign to him. These considerations often filled him with sad- 
ness, and there were perhaps moments in which he would have 
retraced his steps if he had given way to his feelings. Madame 
Hensler was at that time in Copenhagen on a visit to him and 
his wife ; they parted with the hope of soon meeting again, but 
with the prospect of a much bitterer parting beyond. 

In September, 1806, he left Copenhagen. His friends, ac- 
quaintance, and all with whom he had been officially connected, 
took leave of him with every token of respect and sincere regret 
at his departure. He staid but a short time in Holstein. On 
this occasion he only visited Meldorf, where all his relations came 
to meet him and his wife, and bid them a sad and anxious fare- 
well. It could not indeed be otherwise than anxious, for every 
one was looking forward with dread anticipations to the fearful 
conflict, which was to decide the fate of Europe ; and their friends 
parted from them with the certainty that they went to meet this 
conflict, and were about to be involved in the thickest of the strife. 

Niebuhr and his wife were not less deeply moved ; they saw 
the whole peril toward which their path was leading them, but 
they went forward with the courage of resignation that was pre- 
pared to sacrifice all, where all was at stake. 

Extracts from JSfiebuhr's Letters during his residence in Copen- 
hagen in the Da?iish Civil Service. 1800-1806. 
LXXI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Copenhagen, 23i September, 1800. 
Although, in your first letter, you requested us not to speak of Stolberg's 
change of religion, as it was not yet made public, it would have been un- 
becoming to keep it a secret from Schimmelman, Stolberg's old and un- 
alterable friend. If he had known it first, he would have spoken of it to 
us. We happened to be at Seelust* on the very day your letter reached 
us. Schimmelman was unwell, and we had a long conversation alone. 
Amelia has already told you what he thinks about it. Schimmelman will 
never become a Catholic himself; but he, too, finds the present state of 
Protestantism and the Protestant clergy in general, most unsatisfactory. 
Even if some among them really believe what they deliver from the pulpit 
— and if these think about it ; what sort of a faith is it they preach ? Can 
it satisfy those who long for a loving dependence on supernatural objects ? 
I am not so much alarmed either about the intolerance of the true mystics ; 
they never were intolerant in practice, except when they were irritated by 
* Count Scbimmelman's country-seat. 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 133 

oontempt and ill treatment, and that should hardly he reckoned as in- 
tolerance. The unenlightened bigots are those whom I fear, and they will 
always remain true to their nature. 

LXXII. 

Copenhagen, 24th March, 1801. 

As Milly's pain in her eye has heen worse again, and is only beginning 
to show signs of improvement this morning, you must not be angry at my 
exercising a husband's authority in forbidding her to write, but be contented 
with a letter from me. Send this letter on to our friends, that they may 
know the position of our State. 

You have perhaps heard, by the last post, reports of the approach of a 
hostile English fleet, which were brought by the captain of a merchant 
vessel just arrived in the Sound, and also from the island of Anholt. We 
did not like to send you these reports, though they seemed to us likely to 
be true, and when they rose to certainty it was too late. On Sunday 
night, however, a dispatch came from Elsinore with the intelligence that 
the fleet had been seen there about three miles to the northwest, off Gillelye : 
there is a roadstead there, where they lay at anchor the night before ; but 
early that day they had weighed anchor, and were cruising about. 

On Saturday evening, Drummond and the other negotiator, Vansittart, 
left, after a conference in which a very insulting requisition was made by 
' them, and refused on our side, till the embargo should be removed. The 
evening before, an English frigate had arrived here, under a flag of truce, 
but left again on the Saturday. This flag shows that they consider them- 
selves in a state of war with us, because they feel that they are treating 
us as enemies. We have not yet exercised the slightest hostility against 
them, but probably the moment is very near, when the first shot will be 
fired, and the gauntlet thrown down beyond recall. I think it more likely 
that blood will flow to-day or to-morrow, than that a delay will take 
place, which many expect. As a cannonade at Cronburg would be plainly 
heard in the city, if the wind is such that the English could attempt the 
passage (which in that case they would certainly succeed in effecting), we 
often listen, to try if we can catch any sounds of the kind. 

Nelson's presence leads us to think, judging of him by his past conduct, 
that a furious attack will be made upon our harbor. Others give credence 
to a report that he tendered his advice against an expedition to the Baltic, 
and said, that he did " not choose to ensnare himself in that mouse-trap." 
People here are as inquisitive as they are ready to spread news. The 
attack upon our defenses would be a fearful thing for the town. But I 
hope we should be able to sustain it, for then we should reap a harvest of 
glory, and the nation would be awakened from its long slumber ; though 
at a cost, indeed, that we should all long feel. If the war is once pro- 
claimed, it is not at all likely that the enemy will content himself with 
blockading us, shutting us up, while we complete our equipments, and 
therefore, in all probability, the next week or two will decide our fate. I 
do not give you the details of our defenses and preparations, because no 
one can tell but what the mails may be already in danger. However, 
every body is welcome to know, that in the course of yesterday, about a 
thousand men volunteered to enter the service, whereas the vessels are 
ttsuaUy manned by impressment. 



134 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

It seems strange to me to be writing to you of war and armaments, or 
indeed of any thing beyond our own concerns. The crisis is such that it is 
difficult to think of any thing else, especially if one talks much about it ; 
but it shall not so entirely fill our minds as to prevent us from talking to 
you, about what it is much better to be occupied with, than with a subject 
that merely kindles anxiety, indignation, and malignant passions. We 
keep ourselves composed, and continue our employments as far as we can, 
as if in time of peace. We are reading the Odyssey in the first translation. 
Milly had almost entirely forgotten it, since she read it at your father's, 
when you were both girls together. She thoroughly delights in Homer, 
and you know how beautiful she looks when she is pleased — that no expres- 
sion becomes her better. Hence the reading to her is a great pleasure to 
me likewise. We read before, La Harpe's "Melanie." It is a fine com- 
position ; you, too, would not lay it aside without emotion. It is a rare 
masterpiece of great simplicity. 

Milly is perfectly calm; the ladies here in general are in great terror. 
Schimmelman is firm and full of courage, although not blind to our danger. 
You, too, must all be of good courage about us, but not in too great 
security, as if no terrible calamity could befall us. How and why this is 
possible, the court knows perfectly, and I know it too, but can not write 
any thing on that subject. 

As long as the defenses hold good, no balls can reach us in the Wester- 
street, perhaps not even bombs. This for your consolation. 

LXXIII. 

Copenhagen, 2Bth March, 1801. 

We received your letter yesterday, and send an immediate answer, for it 
demands one with a voice of terror to which no one could be deaf. You 
shall have tidings from me by each post, of every thing that I hear, and 
can repeat. This time, I have written all that relates to our military 
position in the inclosed letter to Moltke ; read that. I am writing to-day 
to my father and Behrens ; exchange letters with Behrens also ; one can 
speak and write of nothing else, and yet one grows weary of writing always 
the same thing. It is quite out of the question as yet for Milly to help me 
in my correspondence. 

I wrote to you last time with apprehensions about our defenses, which 

I must now alleviate Hence I am really in better spirits — better 

spirits, that is, as to the result ; for spirit for resistance we have, and must 
have, even though we fall, if we are not to disgrace ourselves. Oh that 
you in Holstein were but safe ! Our individual lives are tolerably secure ; 
and unconcern on that score, which would at other times be stupid insens- 
ibility, is absolutely necessary in time of war. If we survive danger, it 
steels our courage more than any thing else. 

Your opinion of our allies is on the whole correct. I never expected any 
thing else from them, and hence it does not now cast me down, and I thank 
Heaven for this prevision of the danger in its full magnitude (your defense- 
lessness excepted) . The King of Sweden has exhibited himself in a very 
unfavorable light in his conference with our estimable Crown Prince. 
Sweden has not promised her ships till the 2d of April; she knew well 
enough that this would be too late. The Schonen side of the Sound is not 
fortified, and therefore it is impossible to close the Straits. We have been 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 135 

hindered in our preparations by mistakes and accidents. Fearful as is our 
situation, it is not without its good effects. We have been awakened from 
our sleep ; experience has convinced us of much to which counsel could not 
draw our attention. No one behaves more nobly than Schimmelman. 
Resigned to the loss of his large property in the Plantations,* ready and 
willing to sacrifice the rest of his possessions, resolved not to expose us to 
a greater peril, in order to avert the impending one, by trusting to the 
chance of a favorable issue, he gives himself up to the dictates of his heart, 
and thinks and speaks with a dignity and nobleness, that strengthen the 
very peace and calmness of mind from which they spring. Only one who 
sees him alone, in a long conversation, can truly appreciate and honor him. 

The English are still at Gillelye, and come peaceably on shore to pur- 
chase provisions. 

I hear that gun-boats are to be stationed between our block-ships, and 
people maintain that it is impossible to storm the battery on the island. 
It is said that the whole of the defenses are completed. The wind is westerly. 

LXXIV. 

Copenhagen, 3lst March, 1801. 

I must announce to you, what you will expect to hear — that the English 
fleet is now lying as an enemy before our harbor, where it cast anchor 
yesterday morning, about ten o'clock, having been favored by a north wind 
that suddenly sprang up 

I am too tired, and have no time, to go out and collect further intelli- 
gence. Yesterday there was mounting the highest house-tops, towers, &c, 
without end ; then, twice I had to traverse the long way to Schimmelman' s 
and back to the office, where we had to relieve guard ; I was as tired as a 
poor soldier. As we expected an attack in the night, I chose to stay up. 
Milly, unfortunately, could not be prevented from doing the same, and it 
has done her eyes harm. She begs and coaxes till I give way, and then I 
repent of it, because the consequences are just what I anticipated. 

It was on Sunday morning that the English admiral announced that he 
would commence hostilities. 

LXXV. 

Copenhagen, 3d April, 1801. 

The report of our unsuccessful defense will no doubt have reached you 
before you receive this letter. 

On Wednesdy afternoon, about five o'clock, the alarm was given on ac- 
count of the movements of the English fleet.! 

When, yesterday morning, about eleven o'clock, the cannonade sudden- 

* His father had bequeathed estates in the "West Indies, which yielded each 
of his seven children .£4000 to £5000 per annum. Schimmelman, who at this 
time was fabulously rich, lost nearly the whole of his property during the con- 
vulsions caused by the wars which so long desolated Europe, and sank into 
comparative poverty in his old age. His extreme disinterestedness was such, 
that he never sought to shield himself from the ruinous commercial crises which 
succeeded each other in Denmark, but was rather one of the first to suffer by 
them. He suffered especially by a contract which he had made with the govern- 
ment, to supply muskets, and which he continued punctually to fulfill, after he 
had found that it would be at a great loss to himself. 

t Here follows the account of the manner in which the English fleet advanced, 
which is sufficiently well known from other histories 



136 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

ly commenced with great violence, which was the only thing that could 
give us notice of what impended, we were excited, but still in good spirits. 
We had fancied that it would sound much more terrific when so close, and 
did not therefore believe the attack would be so furious or so general, as 
was really the case. I went to my office to see that the archives were all 
packed up. On the way, and when there, I heard various reports that 
two, three, or more English ships had got aground, and that they were 
firing with such vehemence in order to escape being boarded. Meanwhile, 
the firing went on with redoubled violence : toward half-past two it quite 
died away, and only single shots fell from time to time. I went out then 
to gain intelligence. The streets had become perfectly silent, and only 
single hollow shots were to be heard. By chance, I overheard an officer 
telling a citizen of a bomb that had fallen and burst by his side. At. the 
next corner, some people were crowding forward to read a placard from the 
head of the police, containing directions how to act in case of a bombard- 
ment. I now return home considerably startled ; I hear the single shots 
which I now know to be throwing bombs. I go out again, go at last to 
Countess Schimmelman, who had just spoken with some one of the Admi- 
ralty, and was full of terror. Soon Count S. comes with the tidings, that 
our block-ships on the right wing are annihilated. I had never before been 
so dismayed. I return home and tell Milly only a part of the calamity. 
I soon went back once more, learnt that the arrival of a cartel-ship from 
Nelson's fleet, was the cause of the sudden, incomprehensible silence of 
the enemy's guns ; and then heard details of the fight, that were touching 
to the last degree. The whole city was in consternation, and the streets 
deserted. 

4th. — Since we have not sufficient intelligence to be able to give you a 
connected narrative of the battle, and, besides, our situation will interest 
you still more than the events of the never-to-be-forgotten day, I meant to 
write to you yesterday about the former in the first place, and to get more 
information about the latter against to-day. The regular history of the 
action you shall have, as soon as I know enough about it myself; to-day 
I can only write you some unconnected particulars. We can not deny it 
— we are quite beaten ; our line of defense is destroyed, and all is at stake, 
as far as we can see, without a chance of our winning any thing — without 
our being able to do much injury to the enemy, as long as he contents 
himself with bombarding the city, or especially the docks and the fleet; 
because we have been deceived in the plan of attack. 

But while we look with sorrowful anxiety on our peril, with indignation 
on the authors of our mistakes, our spirit rises at beholding the unexam- 
pled heroism of our people, which gives us a melancholy joy full of affec- 
tion, that does not indeed comfort us about the State, nor suffice to deceive 
us as to our true position, yet fills and warms our hearts, binds us closely 
to our nation, and makes us rejoice to suffer with it. Such a resistance 
was never seen. Nelson himself has confessed that never, in all the bat- 
tles in which he has taken part, has he witnessed any thing that could be 
compared to it. His loss is greater than at Aboukir. It is a battle that 
can only be compared to Thermopylae; but Thermopylae, too, laid Greece 
open to devastation 

The appearance of the city [after all was over] was terrible. Every 
place was desolate ; there was nothing to be seen in the streets, but wag- 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 137 

ons loaded with goods to be carried to some place of safety, a silence as 
of the grave, faces covered with tears, the full expression of the bleeding 
wound given us by our defeat. The bringing home of the dead and wound- 
ed, and the wretched scenes that took place then, I can scarcely allude to. 
Milly burst into a flood of tears, when she heard of the fate of the crew 
of the Proevesteen,* which was the first news we received. She was again 
overpowered by her grief when a false report was spread abroad, that our 
defenses had been deserted : she only feared a too hasty, inglorious truce. 
The negotiations have been continued ; but I can not tell you any thing 
about them, except that nothing had been decided yesterday, though Nel- 
son himself was on shore. The truce will last at least till to-morrow 
morning. We must at all events be prepared for a bombardment. The 
worst is, the Crown batteries can be held no longer, and the enemy will 
scarcely expose his ships of the line, while he can bombard our docks, fleet, 
and city. Do not be alarmed about us in case of a bombardment. Our 
house is in a distant quarter, and it would be impossible really to take the 
city 

LXXVI. 

Copenhagen, 6th April, 1801. 

The truce has been prolonged since I wrote till the present time, 

and may last a few days longer, even though no arrangement should be 
concluded; which, if it could be brought to pass without exposing us to 
other dangers, must be earnestly desired, when we reflect calmly on our 
position after the battle of the 2d. You will not ascribe this wish to any 
motives of personal fear. Milly is indescribably cairn ; the reverence for 
our dead heroes is ever present to elevate our thoughts ; the whole nation 
gives us an example of courage, of unmoved self-possession, than which 
nothing can be nobler. Danger is the best instructress ; you must not 
therefore think of fear. But the risk to which the fleet, docks, marine ar- 
senal, all the most important buildings of the city, that is, of the whole 
kingdom, would be exposed in case of a bombardment from the side of the 
scene of combat, is most serious. It is not inevitable I know ; we have 
hitherto found by experience, that the English bombs are very bad, and 
when preparations have been made for extinguishing them, the devastation 
caused even by the best, may be confined within certain limits ; at least 
so we hope. But accident may be against us ; and where order and dex- 
terity must be our safeguards, I do not expect so much from our people, 
as when all depends on Spartan courage. We must not shut our eyes to 
this ; nor to the condition of the remaining half of our defenses, which, 
owing to the short-sightedness of their constructor, are useless, now that 
the right wing is broken — a defect over which I have many a time, since 
last summer, fruitlessly meditated. Providence has now brought us a man 
whose position is sufficiently high to enable him to carry out his projects ; 
and these few days have certainly been employed in repairing the evil as 
far as possible. But is this enough ? and if not, what slaughter must be 
caused by a new attack, and without our being able to revenge ourselves ! 

Tuesday. — The negotiatiation is still far from settled, and I can tell you 
nothing further without abusing confidence. 

* Of which only thirty men came ashore out of a crew of between 300 and 
400 men. 



38 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

It is still possible that a fresh attack may be averted ; if not, it will he 
much more dreadful for us in the city than the first. You may be certain 
that Milly strives to retain her self-possession. It is the sorrow for our 
people, and the wounds with which the State is threatened, that weigh us 
down : we fear a violent attack upon the remains of our fleet ; not so 
much a bombardment. that they would content themselves with that ! 

I am so depressed that I can not now give you a full account of the battle. 
As soon as we are quiet, you shall have it. 

Adieu, you best beloved of our friends ! Shall we soon be able to cor- 
respond in peace again ? Will not the time come when these hours will 
be scarred over, and we shall return to our accustomed sphere of occupation, 
in which alone we can be happy and of use ? This time will indeed leave 
a deep impression on the whole of our lives. 

LXXVII. 

Copenhagen, llth April. 

My last letter was written in a state of depression that I would willingly 
have concealed from you. But that was impossible, and the circumstances 
of our position only rendered such feelings too unavoidable. We were ex- 
pecting (which I did not tell you) a bombardment that evening : we only 
reckoned on a delay from the wind, which was high, and against the enemy. 
It appeared as if the negotiations would come to nothing. While this, and 
the general flight in the city toward our quarter, and the other less exposed 
parts, depressed us, and filled us with grief at the fate of our country, even 
the gloomy turbulence of the elements contributed to our dejection. 

My heart is heavy with what I have to tell you, or should have, if we 
could speak to each other. 

The English changed their minds quite unexpectedly. The truce was 
renewed, and Nelson came on shore the next day to see the Crown Prince. 
A truce of longer extent was agreed to, and finally fixed for fourteen weeks. 
We shall thereby gain the opportunity of sending succor to Norway, where 
the people are almost dying of hunger. We shall not disarm. The militia 
are disbanded to attend to their farming operations. 

The loss of the enemy is placed beyond a doubt by this convention. It 
is not very favorable to him. The utmost he could do would be to sail 
away, if he wished it. They will scarcely take all their ships home. Park- 
er's son is said to have fallen. Nelson has lost three captains, two who 
had been at Aboukir : on the Elephant, his own ship, the captain, two 
lieutenants, and one hundred and seventeen men. It is said, that in another 
English ship, two hundred and thirty were killed. Two English ships of 
the line struck their flag, but could not be taken. 

Thus we have, I think, won honor, and consideration throughout Europe • 
likewise a firmer hold on the reverence and affection of all classes of the 
realm 

LXXVIII. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE.* 

Copenhagen, 22dJ August, 1801. 
My Milly has forestalled me, and told you both how deeply the death of 
our friend has affected us, and what we beg of you. I feel, my best-loved 
* On the death of his first wife. 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 139 

friend, that I could only express all that crowds in upon my mind by talk- 
ing to you, or by writing it all at full length. 

The termination was much more speedy than we expected. We had still 
cherished hope. I could not conceive that fate could really be so cruel to 
you ; as little as one can imagine a life in which every thing is the oppo- 
site of our present nature, and therefore I so long resisted the impression of 
all that you and our friends described. But the impossible has come to 
pass. As it is, I can say nothing to you, but that your misfortune has 
wounded us to the heart. We can not wish to comfort you, for is comfort 
possible to any but children, who can forget ? But we can, and do entreat 
you to control your sorrow ; we can invite you to come to us ; and then, 
with our best powers, we can live for you and with you. The spring-time 
and bloom of your life are over ; but, torn from tbe world and all its follies, 
you may yet enjoy another consolation, and a pure delight in the memory 
of the past, and in the exercise and cultivation of all the noble sentiments 
that fill your excellent heart. Perhaps then a prospect beyond the grave 
may open to your eyes, as it has before disclosed itself to wise and holy men 
in similar seclusion and tranquillity of mind. Faith is the child of such 
effort and self-collectedness alone ; it has descended to many a one who has 
sought to attain spiritual light and purity; the fortunate rarely acquire it; 
they feel not the need of it ; and the anguished heart, yet in suspense, can 
not give it entrance. I can not, like Milly, comfort you with expectations ; 
but I believe that faith is not folly, and that we are blind here below. I 
should give you advice, my dear friend, but I am not able, nor worthy to do 
it ; but, when we are together, we will turn our thoughts in the same direc- 
tion, and together become good and wise. Let us see each other as soon 
as you can. We can not come to you this autumn. It would have been 
a greater happiness than we could have asked for, to have lived with you, 
when you and yours were assembled in a joyful home ; our ivishcs will be 
fulfilled, if you will now come to our arms. I can not say more to you at 
present. My health has not been good for some time, and I have already 
fatigued myself with writing to-day. God be with you, my dearest friend, 
and give you strength ! 

Your old friend, Niebtjhr. 

LXXIX. 

TO HIS PARENTS. 

Copenhagen, 20th September, 1801. 

: I work at Arabic nearly every day now, and am satisfied with my 

progress. I can read most things ha a simple historical account without 
a lexicon, and with its help, I can understand every thing ; so I think I 
shall get on. But I do not know how I shall manage when I come to the 
poets, for whom I am unable to acquire a genuine taste ; they are so de- 
signedly obscure, and use words in such new senses. There are some re- 
markable historical works in this library, particularly among the books which 
the Society has contributed ; for instance, Elwakidi's " History of the Con- 
quest of Irak," which Ockley did not possess, but from, the " History of the 
Conquest of Syria,'' by the same author, which Ockley has incorporated 
into his excellent work, you can see how important it must be. He had 
nothing to consult about this conquest but dry chronicles. 



140 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

The authors of the "Conversations," &c, must, I fancy, have lived in 
Egypt; for Cairo, and the Nile, and Rif, are frequently mentioned. Though 
their language deviates very perceptibly from the old Arabic, I still wonder, 
unless the author intentionally approached it, that the difference is not 
greater. What a wide difference we find when we come to the language 
of Morocco ! They use, for instance, the Spanish article de, to express the 
genitive, and distort the genuine Arabic words so miserably, that it must 
often be quite like another language. 

I have also read lately, with great interest, a good part of Josephus' 
'History of the Jews," for this happens to be a time in which I have not 
much to do. I have often wished, in reading it, to ask you, dear father, 
many questions relating to Palestine and Jerusalem, and to see your ground- . 
plan, and the map of your route, for D'Anville's plan of Jerusalem must be 
wrong. There are a number of highly remarkable circumstances in this 
history, which have never yet attracted sufficient attention. For example, 
the horribly oppressive taxation of the Jews, under the successors of Alex- 
ander, which is also mentioned in the first book of the Maccabees : a third 
of the produce of grain, the half of that of the fruit-trees (therefore of the 
olives), a poll-tax, a salt-duty, and a so-called gift to the king. Why this 
seems to me so remarkable is, that I believe these imposts to have been 
established by the Persians ; and because they entirely correspond to the 
Indian system of taxation, where a fourth of the net produce of the fields, 
sometimes even the second sheaf — as in Tanjour — is paid to the government. 
We can also see quite plainly in many places, the monopoly of salt by the 
government, as in India ; and the farming of the imposts to a species of 
Zemindars, who came to Alexandria at a certain time of year to settle the 
amount of their rent among themselves, as they do in Bengal at the time 
of the rice-harvest. The same system of taxation was continued under the 
Maccabees — became still more oppressive under Herod, and if, as is very 
probable, though it can not be proved, it still existed under the Romans, it 
was no wonder that the nation felt their conquest by the Arabs a relief. 
With such tributes, what enormous streams of wealth must have flowed to 
Persia as long as the monarchy existed ; and how miserable and impover- 
ished has been, in all ages, the condition of the Oriental nations, to whom 
Nature seems to have given her richest territories, in order that they might 
not be exterminated by all these extortions, which they would have been 
in Europe ; as Jupiter, in that old fable, lightened the sorrows of the ass, 
when unable to soften the harshness of his driver, by giving him stupidity 
and a thick hide, that he might be able to bear the blows 

LXXX. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Copenhagen, 2lst May, 1804. 
My Milly has kept a letter to your Marie over several post days, that I 
might be able to write to you, dearest Moltke, at the same time. 1 have 
been obliged to wait for the holidays to do this, partly because the regular 
course of my employments, when I am not well, as happens to be the case 
now, really takes away my power to do any thing I wish ; partly because 
I wanted to be able to dismiss these employments from my mind before I 
sat down to write to you. I do not know whether you have heard, that is 3 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 141 

read, any where, how much more numerous and onerous they have become. 
At the new year I was made administrative director of the Rank, or, in 
other words, banker to the government ; and three months before, the 
directorship of the East India office had devolved upon me. Unacquainted 
as you are with our public business, you can not possibly form an idea of 
the complicated relations with a host of people in which these employments 
place me, of the laborious nature of my work, and of the unremitting ap- 
plication it requires. This, and the kind of men with whom I have to 
deal, and of whom I must make friends, render my post an arduous one ; 
the business itself is, to one used to it, not difficult to transact, though try- 
ing to the nerves, from the constant strain upon the attention which it re- 
quires ; and it often has some of the interest of a game of chance, when 
you can depend upon yourself not to go beyond a moderate sum, and begin 
with the odds in your favor. Through this extension of my duties, we have 
now a liberal income, instead of the very narrow one with which we began ; 
and as a complete renunciation of amusement and recreation (along with 
hard work and weak health), would be very trying, we must bear the in- 
crease of my work, which takes up my time and thoughts, and in so far, 
takes me from my Milly, with gratitude and contentment, as a necessary 
evil. I wish you would all — you, my friends, between the Elbe and the 
ocean — look at the matter in this light, and not lay it to my charge, that 
I have undertaken employment which it was impossible you should approve 
of. It would give me much pain if any one should judge my conduct in 
this respect with intolerance, and reproach me in secret for entering on a 
vocation, which, indeed, seems incompatible with all that used to be the 
object of our common endeavors. Physical exhaustion alone can make me 
unfit at times for those things, which used to be equally dear and interest- 
ing to us both : every moment of leisure carries me back to them ; and if 
Turgot, under the severest financial labors, kept his tastes and intellect 
unchanged, you ought to give me credit for doing the same. While you 
were preparing to tread the classic soil, and when you arrived in Italy, I 
was living in a work that afforded me hours of the most intense enjoyment. 
I was straining every power of my mind in investigating the Roman history 
from its first beginning to the times of the tyranny, in all the remains of 
ancient authors that I could procure. This work gave me a deep and liv- 
ing insight into Roman antiquity, such as I never had before, and such as 
made me perceive, at the same time, clearly and vividly, that the repre- 
sentations of all the moderns, without exception, are but mistaken, imper- < 
feet glimpses of the truth. My studies were interrupted by a journey on 
official affairs to Hamburgh, Leipsic, and Frankfort ; a journey which did 
not on the whole bring me much pleasure, because I felt it my duty to 
employ my whole mind on the financial matters placed in my hands : and 
it was necessary to associate exclusively with those who could be useful to 
me in this respect. On my return home, I resumed my investigations with 
redoubled energy, and for the first time felt strongly the consciousness, that 
I could produce something worthy of study, of fame, and of immortality, 
and the desire to undertake such a work. I began a treatise, of compre- 
hensive scope and courageous freedom of thought, on the Roman laws of 
property, and the history of the Agrarian laws. An influx of business 
weighed me down for some time, and made it impossible for me to com- 
plete this treatise for our Scandinavian Society to which I had intended to 



142 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR, 

send it ; however, it shall be finished, and also a series of papers on isolated 
topics and periods of ancient history. My first essay will be widely con- 
demned, and no nobleman and landed proprietor will like it, at least if he 
is consistent. I do not even expect it from you ; but I shall write, as I 
think and speak, in the strength of my unalterable convictions, as the old 
Itomans would approve and praise, were they still among us. 

I could envy you the happiness of having lived so long in Rome. You 
will bring home ineffaceable recollections of those scenes. Shall you not 
see Samnium and Apuleia ? That pleasure I should be absolutely unable 
to deny myself, if I had those means of assuring my safety which are at 
your command. If you get so far, think of me. Every field there is classic. 
I think you will hardly return without having seen the regions which equal 
in importance the sublimest ruins of Rome. Could you procure me at 
Rome one of the celebrated Samnian denarii, and an Attic tetradrachma ? 
If you pass through Ravenna, do not overlook the tomb of Theodoric, nor 
the old mosaics in the churches. All travelers despise Ravenna, and yet 
it is the link that binds ancient and modern history together, and much 
has been preserved within its walls. In Venice, seek out Morelli : he is an 
accomplished philologist, and I believe an obliging man ; and in Switzer- 
land, I entreat you to make Reding's acquaintance, and confirm me in my 
opinion that he is really a great and noble-minded man, who espoused a 
righteous cause from pure motives.^ If you can obtain there the various 
constitutions and projects of constitutions, which have appeared since 
1798, and any important printed papers connected with the history of the 
Swiss revolution (if such exist), you will do me a great service. Alas, how 
freedom is expiring on every side ! I have received American papers, from 
which it is undeniably evident whither Jefferson's party are tending. The 
regulations making in Louisiana are such that the president there will be 
a complete monarch. And in Europe not a man left but Carnot ! Was I 
wrong in regarding him with such deep reverence ? I have written a lit- 
tle Danish essay to renew the remembrance of two great men of our nation. 
When you come back, you shall receive it. One of them could neither 
read nor write, but Sertorius need not have been ashamed of him. Adieu, 
my dear Moltke ! However we may be separated by distance, or the dis- 
similarity of our occupations, we shall never change inwardly, nor cease to 
be, in ourselves and to each other, what we were when we were simply 
observers of the world, contemplators of the past, seers of the possible — 
, simply men. A senseless sophistry is raging in Germany with inquisitorial 
fury and monkish pride. Do not suffer yourself to be entangled in it under 
any shape on your return. Think of me and give our love to your Marie. 

LXXXI. 

From a letter without date. 
I envy you the recollections of your Italian journey. It is a hard thought 
to me, that I shall never see the land that was the theatre of deeds, with 

* Aloys Reding invariably upheld tbe old Swiss Constitutions existing pre- 
viously to 1798, but was alternately opposed to, and on the side of tbe French, 
as they alternately favored the Unitarian or Revolutionary party, or the old Con- 
servative party, of which Reding was the head. At this time he was peaceably 
exercising the functions of Landamman of Schwyz, as the constitution promul- 
gated by Bonaparte, 19th February, 1803, had for most part restored the old con- 
dition of things existing before 1798. and pacified the country. 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 143 

which I may perhaps claim a closer acquaintance than any of my con- 
temporaries. I have studied the Roman history with all the effort of which 
my mind has been capable in its happiest moments, and believe that I 
may assume that acquaintance without vanity. This history will, also, if 

I write, form the subject of most of my works 

The sight of the works of art, particularly the paintings, would have 
delighted me as it did you. Statues have little effect upon me ; my sight 
is too weak, and can not be strengthened by glasses, for a surface of one 
color, as it can for pictures. Then, too, a picture, when I have once seen 
it, becomes my property — I never lose it o\it of my imagination. Music is, 
in general, positively disagreeable to me, because I can not unite it in one 
point, and every thing fragmentary oppresses my mind. Hence, also, I am 
no mathematician, but an historian ; for. from the single features preserv- 
ed, I can form a complete picture, and know where groups are wanting, 
and how to supply them. I think this is the case with you also, and I 
wish you would, like me, apply your reflections on past events, to fix the 
images on the canvas, and then employ your imagination, working only 
with true historical tints, to give them coloring. Take ancient history as 
your subject : it is an inexhaustible one, and no one would believe how 
much, that appears to be lost, might be restored with the clearest evidence. 
Modern history ne vaut pas le diable. Above all, read Livy again and 
again. I prefer him infinitely to Tacitus, and am glad to find that Voss 
is of the same opinion. There is no other author who exercises such a 
gentle despotism over the eyes and ears of his readers, as Livy among the 
Romans and Thucydides among the Greeks. Quinctilian calls Livy's full- 
ness "sweet as milk," and his eloquence "indescribable:" in my judg- 
ment, too, it equals, and often even surpasses, that of Cicero. The latter 
missed son genre — he possessed infinite acuteness, intellect, wit; il faisait 
du genie avec de V esprit, like Voltaire ; but he attempted a richness of style, 
for which he lacked that heavenly repose of the intellect, which Livy, 
like Homer, must have possessed, and, among the modems, Fenelon and 
Garve* in no common degree. Very different was Demosthenes, who was 
always concise, like Thucydides. And to rise to conciseness and vigor of 
style is the highest that we moderns can well attain ; for we can not write 
from our whole soul : and hence we can not expect another perfect epic 
poem. The quicker beats the life-pulse of the world, the more each one 
is compelled to move in epicycles, the less can calm, mighty repose of the 
spirit be ours. I am writing to you as if I were actually living in this 
better world, and nothing is further from the truth. Calculations are 
my occupation — merchants, Jews, and brokers my society. Alcibiades 
was not wrong when he said that among Thracians and Persians you 
must distinguish yourself after their fashion (if you must or will live 
among them, I add, for truly it is better to remain away); and thus it is 
my ambition to rival the Jews, and surpass our merchants, in the cun- 
ning of trade. You would not believe with what respect the Jews re- 
gard me ; only they can not understand my having no private advantage 
in view. But I am heartily sick of this life. Have you seen the manu- 

* A professor of moral philosophy in the last century, born at Breslau in 1792. 
He is, perhaps, best known by his translations of Cicero de Offlciis, Burke on 
the Sublime, and Ferguson's Moral Philosophy. His own Philosophical Essays 
are rather popular than scientific — a philosophy of practical life. 



144 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

script rolls at Pompeii, and do you know if any of them will be printed be- 
fore long, and how they are to be obtained ? Write me word about this — 
and if you are able to inquire of any one, and are a trustworthy agent, 
ask this : how one can obtain a copy of the Philodemus, printed in 1793 ? 
(I can now sometimes afford to buy a book, if it is not extravagantly dear) . 
I am full of painful anxiety about politics : I have gloomy presentiments ; 
slavery is incontestably at hand ; and the pestilence spares not the inno- 
cent. Adieu, my beloved friend ! give my love to your wife and your boy. 
I would write more were I not at the end of my paper, and the clock 
striking eleven. 

LXXXII. 

Copenhagen, January, 1806. 

\7th. — I left the last line unfinished because I was interrupted, 

and now I can not recollect what I wanted to say. However, it is easy 
to draw a fresh thread from the same clew. By my desire, Perthes has 
sent you an anonymous translation of Demosthenes' first Philippic. It is 
by me, and if you have read it, and reflected on the mottos I have prefixed 
to it, or will do so, you will know what your friend thought and wished 
with all the powers of his soul, when you asked, " what are we to think ? 
what are we to wish?" (By-the-by, you must keep this a profound 
secret). The publication of the pamphlet was so much delayed, that 
Zama had already decided the question, before I even got the proof-sheets, 
and so I was like one who receives a letter after its writer is dead. At 
the beginning of the war, which has terminated so disastrously, it seemed 
by no means a chimerical hope, that it might be possible to avert the 
fearfully imminent danger of the universal supremacy of France, and to set 
limits to this terrible empire. We might have expected that the Austrians 
would at last have learnt the art of war ; it appeared as if the army were 
to be depended on. Russia gave her assistance with pure generosity; and 
Alexander seemed to recognize the whole difficulty of his undertaking; and 
to be ready to exhaust all his resources in the cause ; his person was a 
bond of coalition, such as we had never had before ; and, what must not 
be forgotten, the tyranny and barbarity of the French had kindled in the 
minds of all a hatred which, we believed, must burst into a universal flame. 
It was indeed impossible to foresee that we had made a mistake ; that supe- 
rior force, led with the greatest military skill, would, in the very outset of 
the campaign, completely dissolve an army, placed as if for destruction, and 
whose ruin was inevitable, even according to the old tactics, after it had 
neglected to change its position on the 10th and 11th of October.* It 
was impossible to foresee the stupidity, cowardice, meanness, venality, 
and, at last, treachery, that, one after the other, and finally all combined, 
completed the fatal overthrow ; or yet the pusillanimity displayed after 
the final defeat. So long as the struggle lasted, I longed to be in the 
camp, and, though all is lost now, at least to have the privilege of know- 

* He refers to the fact, that when Napoleon had succeeded, in interposing hia 
grand army between the Austrian army under Mack, stationed atUlm, and the 
Hereditary States, so as to cut of Mack's communications, and make it impossi- 
ble for him to move toward Austria or Bohemia, in order to rejoin the Russian 
or Imperial reserves, Mack neglected to take the only road left open to him for 
a retreat, namely, that toward the Tyrol, which enabled Napoleon to surround 
him, and compel the shameful capitulation of Ulm. 



RESIDENCE IN COPENHAGEN FROM 1800 TO 1806. 145 

ing with what alacrity, and with what a burning heart, men rush to arms 
in a national war ; what blessedness lies in that immovable resolution, 
which nothing in the world can bend. The appalling misery is, that fear 
had paralyzed the Germans before they had measured their strength against 
the French ; that they thought of safety beforehand. I have felt with 
what truth the great Ali says, "Despair is a free-man; Hope is a slave." 
Those who are still, or for the second time, dazzled by Bonaparte, who 
exult in the lustre of the modern Romans, as the moth in the brightness 
of the candle that is about to scorch it up, will ere long discover the mon- 
strosity of their idol, and, with Bojokal, exclaim too late : 

" Wodan and Mans, and all ye divinities ! e'en though a dwelling 
E arth may not yield us, still it shall yield us a grave !"' 

Woe to those who greeted the victories of the French revolutionary army 
with acclamations, who extinguished hi our unhappy nation the last 
sparks of national love and national hatred, that the imperious French 
njght scatter abroad the scarce warm embers with their sword ! I have 
ever hated the French as a State, and regarded the humiliation of Ger- 
many with the same feelings that breathe through your odes. It is over, 
and I shall now inveigh, like the prophet Jeremiah, against those who 
dream of resistance, unless a case were to arise in which, like the Sagun- 
tines and Antigone, we must rather choose death. For is not death, when 
freely chosen and prepared for, the most solemn and beautiful thing to 
which life can aspire ? Who could hesitate to prefer it to shameful serv- 
itude, even if he only regarded his own mental enjoyment ? Meanwhile, 
it has not yet come to this with us in the north. Happy are we who 
have no children ! For perhaps it might be well for whole nations to die 
out with this generation. With two gifts has England's genius blessed 
Lord Nelson and rewarded him for his deeds ; that he died victorious, and 
therefore still full of hope, before he could know the defeat of Ulm ; and 
secondly, that he left no children to grovel under the oppression of those 
whom he had so often made to pass under his yoke. We shall soon see 
how the French will govern the world. What we shall not see in its con- 
summation, but can already perceive in its commencement, is the degener- 
ation of intellect, the extinction of genius, of all free, all liberal sentiments, 
the domination of vice, of sensuality, not even disguised by hypocrisy j 
the decay of taste and literature — in this respect we are already long past 
the dawn. I have written so much about the general calamity, that I 
have little space to write of other things 

LXXXIII. 

TO HIS PARENTS. 

Copenhagen, 26tk August, 1806. 
You have no doubt, my dearest parents, looked forward to our letter 
with more than ordinary anxiety, Up to this time we have remained in 
uncertainty as to the decision of our fate • * and this is why we did not 
write on the last post day. To-day we have at length been relieved from 
our suspense by a decisive answer from the Crown Prince. 
* Whether he went to Prussia or not. 
G ■ : 



14 6 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

My request for my dismissal went to the Crown Prince a fortnight ago, 
accompanied by a letter to Schimmelman that was really written from my 
heart. The Crown Prince received it very kindly, and returned it, begging 
that nothing more might be said on the subject ; he wished and hoped 
that I would alter my intention. But what could I do ? The patent was 
long since drawn up. I had taken an irrevocable step, and was forced to 
repress my struggling feelings. I now wrote direct to the Crown Prince, 
and upon this, the permission for my leaving has arrived to-day, in conse- 
quence of which, the matter may now be considered as settled, and can 
no longer remain a secret. It will therefore be generally known here in 
the course of a few days. 

I believe that very few officials possess so high a degree of affection and 
popularity as I enjoy on our Exchange (I may say this without vanity, 
and do say it with emotion), where I have been connected with the most 
dissimilar classes of people by daily intercourse, community of interest, 
and the universal approbation which my administration of the bank affairs 
has received. Hitherto all who have heard that we were leaving Copen- 
hagen, have expressed their sorrow in a very touching manner, many with 
tears, and I may confidently hope that my career will be held in remem- 
brance, and my name in respect. The merchants have been some of my 
most intimate acquaintance, and among them more particularly some En- 
glishmen, who, like many "gentlemen," of this nation, have a great liking 
for me, because we harmonize very much. I am fond of the English lan- 
guage too, and speak it more fluently than any other foreign language, in- 
deed almost as much so as German or Danish. 

Nor can I flatter myself that this universal affection and cordiality can 
and will be replaced at Berlin. But all will be right, if the government 
display firmness and dignity. God grant that they may not yield to the 
proposition of alienating the Westphalian provinces ! Let the consequen- 
ces of a spirited resolution be what they may, we are prepared for them — 
prepared to sink into a very narrow sphere, and to be thrown entirely on 
our own resources. 

If possible, we shall leave within three weeks. We are hastening our 
preparations for departure as much as we can. Almost our only object in 
Holstein is to see you, dearest parents ; we shall make every thing else 
subordinate to that. Indeed we shall only be able to stay a very short 
time ; for it is a deviation from our route, which nothing but our fervent 
desire to see our parents could justify. 

We shall be nearer to you in Berlin than we are here, and the permis- 
sion to travel will most likely be obtained with less difficulty. But still 
there will be a new kind of separation between us. 



CHAPTER VI. 

NIEBUHR IN THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE FROM 1806 TO 1610. 

The Niebuhrs arrived in Berlin on the 5th of October, 1806. 
On the 14th, came the dreadful defeats of the Prussian array at 
Jena and Auerstadt, followed by those of Halle, Prentlau, An- 
clam, &c, within a few days. The French were advancing on 
Berlin. In the consternation produced by the rapidity with which 
defeat succeeded defeat, scarcely any of the Prussian authorities, 
military or civil, thought of making any resistance, but fortresses 
and stores of all descriptions fell into the hands of the French, 
strengthening them at every step. Seven ministers even lowered 
themselves so far as to take an oath of fidelity to the French com- 
missioner, without writing to the King for permission. Stein 
formed an exception. He had taken the precaution of packing up 
beforehand all the money belonging to the various offices under 
his direction, and now sent it on to Stettin, under Niebuhrs 
charge. A day later it would have been lost. After staying a 
week in Stettin, the Niebuhrs continued their journey to Dantzic, 
where they met with a most friendly reception from Messrs. Solly 
and Gibson. In a few days the surrender of Dantzic rendered it 
necessary to retreat to Konigsberg. 

All organization of the executive was now nearly at an end. 
Niebuhr was, however, resolved to abide by his post so long as 
Stein remained there. The intrigues of opposing factions render- 
ed the condition of affairs, if possible, yet more hopeless. Mean- 
while the enemy was approaching Konigsberg. The royal family 
went forward to Memel, followed by the members of the govern- 
ment and the treasury chests. Niebuhr and his wife arrived in 
Memel early in January, 1807, after a journey across the low 
grounds on the shores of the Baltic, which, at that season of the 
year, was not only fatiguing but dangerous. 

LXXXIV. 

TO HIS PARENTS. 

Stettin, 20th October, 1806. 
I hope, my dear father and mother, that you received the letter safely, 
in which I announced to you our arrival here on Monday. That will have 



148 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHE. 

quite re-assured you as to our personal safety. "With respect to our future 
fate you must not be uneasy. "We have no anxiety about it. For this I 
have, in these serious times, to thank the education which you, dear fa- 
ther, gave me, and the principles to which I have ever remained true in 
my onward course. I shall always be able to find and to earn the neces- 
saries of life. Should all those brilliant prospects vanish, as now seems 
likely, which appeared to open before us a short time ago, I can earn a 
living either as a scholar or a merchant ; and if I did not succeed in one 
country, I should in another. A shelter and daily bread will never be 
wanting to us, and I entreat you to be convinced, that the thought that 
this terrible calamity will destroy our worldly prospects, which indeed were 
most promising, has not for a moment mingled with our bitter grief for 
the fate of the nation and of Europe. My position as a citizen would in 
happy times have been very enviable. I should have been able to suggest 
and to carry out many ideas under the leadership of a most eminent min- 
ister; I should have worked with pleasure and satisfaction, and at the 
same time have been able to reckon upon all the advantages and honors 
which render public fife agreeable. That is now most likely over forever, 
but all this will not grieve me. that we had no other grief ! 

We start for Dantzic to-morrow. As the French have entered Berlin, 
and will probably advance hither before long, we can not put off our jour- 
ney any longer. The days are so short now, that we can not even 
wait the arrival of the Hamburgh mail, though it will most likely bring 
a letter from you. Till you hear again, and as long as mails run with- 
out interruption, direct to us at Dantzic, under care to Solly, Gibson, and 
Co. 

It is a long way to Dantzic, and the season is far advanced. In East 
Pcmerania the accommodations and even the provisions will be wretched. 
To me that is of no consequence, but it is to my Amelia. God grant only, 
that her health may hold out, and that we may reach Dantzic without 
an accident. 

Whether we shall reach the end of our flight in Dantzic, or whether we 
shall still have to pursue it toward the northeast, time will show. I do 
not want to think about it, but we shall bear all that comes with calm- 
ness. Only do not fear that we shall want for necessary ready money ; 
we are well provided with it. 

You will, I suppose, have received through the Hamburgh journals, tol- 
erably correct accounts of the dreadful fate of our army. For us, a light 
now begins to shed its ray over the frightful chaos, and to develop a pic- 
ture which I must gradually summon courage to contemplate. 

We have been received here in a very friendly manner, and may reckon 
upon a similar reception in Dantzic. We shall meet there with the excel- 
lent Colonel Von Schack, of the War Office. We became friends at once 
during his stay here. Such a time quickly brings right-minded people 
together. 

It will interest you to hear that the aged General Kollarbonner is still 
living here. I bid you adieu, my dear parents, with a heavy heart. Prob- 
ably our correspondence will be much interrupted at present, and it were 
hard to say whether you will look forward to letters from us, or we from 
you, with the greater anxiety. Be easy about us. Fare you well, and 
spare yourselves to us by avoiding unnecessary apprehensions. May cur 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 149 

dear mother be supported under her sufferings.* Farewell, and yet once 
more farewell, my dearest parents, my darling sister, my kind aunt ! 
Amelia begs you to give the inclosed to her sister Frederike. 

LXXXV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Ko.nigsberg, 28th November, 1806. 

"We did not receive your letter of the 13th till yesterday, and it is the 
only one which has come to hand ; all the earlier ones which you mention 
are to us as yet lost treasures. You have all heard something of us from 
time to time ; and if no unforeseen misfortune has occurred, you must 
have had a continuous account of our adventures through the letters we 
have sent by sea, whenever an apparently safe opportunity presented itself. 
Our fate has been harder in this respect ; for five long weeks we had no 
news of a single one of our friends — and this has rendered our gloomy 
hours still more dreary. 

It is a great comfort to us to find that you are prudently looking forward 
to the measures which the future may render necessary. If we were still 
in Copenhagen, we would summon you to us, as a hen calls her chickens 
under her wings on the approach of a bird of prey — probably our protection 
would be just as ineffectual. I am thinking over every subject, considering 

what I may, and may not say Do not be uneasy ; we are on the 

whole in good health ; mine is perhaps more constantly good than usual ; 
my Milly is not quite well to-day. The weather here resembles that of 
Copenhagen at this season of the year. It is a blessing to us that we are 
already accustomed to this climate, the rest of our companions, natives of 
Berlin, suffer much more from it, and are almost all ill. 

I work daily with the minister, t who appears to me in all respects 
worthy of esteem. He is a man in the highest sense of the word ; and, 
as a minister, all that I could wish. 

Many government officers are now returning to Berlin, some by command, 
others by their own desire ; I have my minister's word that we shall not 
be separated, that we shall meet every shock of fortune together. 

In Stettin and Dantzic, I had but very little to do ; here I am pretty 
fully occupied, and it does me a great deal of good. One is less tormented 
with sad reflections, and does not feel one's self useless. 

Any further journey would certainly be attended with great hardships, 
but hardships are no longer strange to us, and you must not fear them for 
us ; they form the smallest part of what we have to bear. "We have here 
found very dear friends in Nicolovius and his wife, whom you know. Un- 
fortunately they live at so great a distance from us, that we can not see 
them very often. The venerable old Scheffner I have not seen even once. 
Fichte is here too. At the house of the merchants Hay and Philipps we 
also find interesting society. 

"Would it were possible to hear oftener from you ! Omit every thing in 
your letters which might hinder their transmission. No misfortune shall 
plunge me into benumbing inactivity ; what we have already undergone 
s-trengthens and rouses all our powers 

* Niebuhr's mother had been suffering for some time from dropsy, 
t Stein. 



150 MEMOIR OP NIEBTTHR 

If the Countess Werthern [Stein's sister] is in your neighborhood, let her 
know that her brother is here with all his family, and is well. 

LXXXVI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Konigsberg, 29tk December, 1806. 

The French have not advanced ; on the contrary, they seem to have 
somewhat retired. It is inconceivable what uncertainty exists here as to 
the actual position of things. The delay of the French is ascribed partly 
to sickness — particularly dysentery — partly to the scarcity of provisions. 
We shall therefore, in all probability, remain quietly here till after the 
new year. 

You must take it as a great favor that Milly is writing to you, for her 
eyes have been very bad ; she can not write without great pain and diffi- 
culty, and is often obliged to lay down her pen. But how can we help 
writing to you when there is an opportunity 

If you imagine that the general misfortunes, and the approaching dan- 
ger, have produced a grave and solemn tone of thought here, in which we 
should find entire sympathy, you are deceived. All amusements go on 
just as usual. People look on the war as a subject of conversation, find 
fault with the English, and lay the blame of all the misery on them ; abuse 
those who took part in bringing about the declaration of war ; abuse the 
Russians, who, it must be confessed, behave in our country in rather an 
Asiatic manner ; comfort themselves with saying that the French are not 
so bad, &c, &c. 

And not one of us may cool his blood by speaking out his whole mind 
to them ! There is an everlasting talk — mostly without the slightest com- 
prehension of the matter — about abuses, about the aristocracy, the Rus- 
sians, the misunderstood French, and the great Emperor, about ruinous 
measures, and so forth. Of course there are many, very many, who think 
otherwise ; but indignation makes one's blood boil when one is forced to 
listen to such things. 

Stein was on the point of following the royal family the same 
night in their flight to Memel, though ill himself, and leaving a 
child dangerously ill with typhus fever, when the machinations 
of his enemies triumphed, and he received his dismissal in an au- 
tograph letter from the King, couched in very ungracious terms. 
Niebuhr was resolved to send in his resignation also. The fol- 
lowing letter to Stein, on receiving the news of his dismissal, shows 
Niebuhr's views respecting the state of affairs, and is character- 
istic of both men : 

LXXXVII. 

TO BARON VON STEIN. 

Memel, 1th January, late in the evening. 
Since the arrival of Count von Lindenow, it has been rumored here that 
your Excellency has been forced, by the untiring malice and inexhaustible 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 151 

wickedness of the men who have plunged this unhappy country into ruin, 
to send in your resignation. To no one among the many who have heard 
these fresh tidings of misfortune with consternation, could the news he a 
severer blow than to me. The Count's verbal announcement left us, how- 
ever, some hope that our anxiety might be relieved, and that your Excel- 
lency might yet receive the satisfaction due to you. I reckoned on the 
cowardice and half-measures of those persons, and knew that your Excel- 
lency would never be weary of making sacrifices to our unhappy country. 

These hopes have now been quite destroyed by your letter, and I find 
myself, in the midst of this desolation, more forsaken and solitary than 
words can express. I thank your Excellency from the bottom of my heart, 
and shall ever thank you for the precious memorial of yourself which you 
have given me in your letter. Fate may probably never permit me to see 
your Excellency again, and I may soon find it almost impossible even to 
write to you. I should, therefore, be the more grieved if you now reproach 
yourself with having been the guiltless cause of drawing me into the vortex 
of destruction. What you aimed at was my good fortune and happiness, 
and these would have been attained beyond my expectations. Permit me 
to say, that my most faithful adherence to you resulted not alone from my 
deep reverence for the minister who completely fulfilled that ideal which 
had never before been realized for me : it sprang, also, from the conscious- 
ness that my connection with you ennobled and strengthened me ; and 
what better blessing could I have ? Even if a kind of existence be re- 
stored to this State at some future period, and your Excellency's depart- 
ment fall into the hands of such men as we may anticipate, my position, 
however bearable in other respects, would always be distasteful, because 
precisely the opposite would take place. I should be in danger of sinking 
to the level of those persons instead of rising. If, after the conclusion of 
a miserable peace, your Excellency had endeavored to bring the finances 
into order, I should have remained, however much the official salaries might 
have been reduced ; but now my political life in this country is at an end, 
and no temptations shall seduce me. A few months longer I must of 
course endure ; but then I shall seek a new destiny, and it will be found. 
Never, never, shall your Excellency despise me, as a man whose actions 
give his asseverations the appearance of frivolity or falsehood. 

I am very sorry that it was impossible to write out, in a clear form, a 
plan for the government of the banks, with all the necessary details, of 
which 1 had finished the first sketch in Konigsberg; because I hoped it 
would have met with your Excellency's approbation, and, in happier times, 
might have been carried out with great advantage. Not that such times 
are fled forever. What grieves me is, that the confidence with which you 
honored me has not been justified by any production of mine worth men- 
tion. Will your Excellency permit me still to send you this plan, should an 
opportunity offer ? God knows that the thought of you, and the hope that 
your just and grave judgment might pronounce me Worthy, have been my 
support in the most trying situations ; and that the remembrance of your 
Excellency's kindness will be an ample compensation for whatever course 
events may take for me personally, in the present complication of affairs. 

May your Excellency forget, under the kindly sky of your beautiful 
native region, the pain of seeing a country, once so dear to you, led to the 
verge, nay, plunged into the gulf of ruin, and the vexation of beholding 



152 MEMOIR OF N1EBUHR. 

all true help shamefully cast aside ! May your gaze be turned away from 
the fogs of this degraded age, to the last rays of the departing light of all 
goodness and greatness ; and may you leave an example to all those who 
find comfort and strength in remembering you ! 

Permit my wife, though unknown to your Excellency, to join her most 
sincere wishes with mine, that you and yours may meet with every hap- 
piness which is still possible in these days. 

Once more, and with deep emotion, I commend myself to your Excel- 
lency's remembrance. Yours will never be extinguished in my heart 

With the deepest respect, I am ever 

Your Excellency's most obedient, Niebuhr. 

Niebuhr was now undecided as to his future course. He had 
received proposals from Denmark immediately after the battle of 
Auerstadt, and subsequently from England and Russia. His heart 
inclined him toward Denmark ; but on the whole he was disposed 
to refuse office entirely for the present, and thought of retiring 
into some obscure place, where, with the assistance of a little 
money that he had at command, he meant to support himself by 
writing, till the future should show whether, and where, there 
should remain a spot in Europe, not subject to the tyranny of 
Napoleon and the supremacy of France. 

During his stay in Memel, however, he was induced by the 
Prussian government to take a part in the organization of the 
commissariat. The scarcity in the armies, as well as in the whole 
hunger-stricken province, which did not even contain corn enough 
for seed, rendered this a business of great importance, and with- 
held Niebuhr from pressing for an immediate dismissal. The 
Provincial Chamber of Konigsberg * had requested the minister, 
Schrotter, that Niebuhr might be consulted on this subject, and 
he did not like to disappoint the reliance placed on his services 
in a moment of such extremity. His determination to remain at 
his post for the present, was strengthened in a short time by the 
prospect that Count Hardenberg, and perhaps even Baron Von 
Stein, might return to office. 

During his stay in Konigsberg, Niebuhr formed a warm friend- 
ship with Nicolovius, who was now a member of the East Prus- 
sian Consistory. Indeed, to this period of calamity he owed many 
connections that were valuable to him in after years ; among 
these we must mention more particularly his friendship with Yon 
Schoen — the enlightened and zealous coadjutor of Stein in his 

At this period the financial affairs of each province were managed by its 
own Chamber. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 153 

vast plans for the fundamental reform of the Prussian State — 
whose integrity and patriotism he esteemed as highly as he re- 
spected his intellect and penetration. Sir Hartford Jones, the 
traveler in Persia, interested him greatly ; and for Lord Hutchin- 
son he had personally a great regard, though, in some instances, 
he regretted his conduct as a diplomatist. In the course of this 
winter, being without the means of prosecuting his other studies, 
he assiduously employed his leisure moments in acquiring the 
Russian and other Slavonic languages. 

In April, 1807, the King again intrusted Count Hardenberg 
with the portfolio of foreign affairs, and, a few days after, with 
that of the interior and of finance, (the latter in the place of 
Schrotter) the direction of the bank and maritime affairs, of the 
police, the post-office, in short, of every thing not exclusively mil- 
itary. The immense extent of the business thus devolving upon 
Count Hardenberg, rendered it necessary for him to secure the 
assistance of able men. He, therefore, in May, summoned Alten- 
stein, Schoen, Niebuhr, and Stageman to the head-quarters at 
Bartenstein, and transferred to each a portion of the public busi- 
ness, subject to his supervision. The financial department of the 
commissariat was intrusted to Niebuhr, and it was therefore nec- 
essary for him to repair to head-quarters. He had to leave his wife 
behind him in Memel, ill of a slow fever, brought on by anxiety 
and sorrow at the aspect of affairs, as much as by the hardships 
of their flight in the winter, and the wretched lodgings and food 
that they were obliged to put up with in the devastated province. 
She only partially recovered in the course of the summer. 

Niebuhr had scarcely arrived at Bartenstein, when his health 
too sank under the continued pressure. He was attacked with 
typhus fever, and remained for some time in great danger. His 
illness was prolonged by the want of all attention, and the anxi- 
ety and depression which, in his utter solitude, he had no means 
of throwing off The letters to his wife written at this time, bear 
the stamp of his mental dejection, and contain many passages in 
which he expresses his hopelessness with regard to the results of 
the war and the situation of the country ; still his language by 
no means equals the intensity of his feelings at that time, because 
he wished to spare her as much as possible in her weak state. 
After remaining here and in Konigsberg for some weeks, the seat 
of government was transferred to Tilsit. 



154 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

New calamities soon drove the King and his ministers farther 
northward. On the 14th of May, came the battle of Friedland ; 
on the 18th, the Russian army arrived at Tilsit ; on the 19th, it 
crossed the Memel ; on the 2 2d, an armistice for a month was 
concluded. On the 17th of June, the news reached Memel, that 
the French had entered Konigsberg, and that the Russian army 
had taken up its position on the other side of the Memel. Every 
one now hastened to pack up his effects and papers ; the cash be- 
longing to the government was sent to Riga, and the whole ma- 
chinery of the State was dissolved. The officials were left free to 
remain or to embark, since the greater number of them could no 
longer render any service after the frontier was crossed. Many 
went by sea to Copenhagen. 

Under these circumstances, Niebuhr saw no further possibility 
of usefulness. He therefore decided to go to Copenhagen, and 
there await the decision of the fate of Prussia, before entering the 
service of any other State. He went to Count Hardenberg to ask 
for his dismissal, but the Count besought him so earnestly, even 
with tears, not to forsake him and the King, but to hold out to 
the last, that he consented to retain his post. He now left Riga 
with his wife, accompanied by the rest of the officers connected 
with the exchequer. They set out on the 10th of June ; by the 
time that they reached Mitau they heard that a further armistice 
had been concluded, and on their arrival at Riga, that the arti- 
cles of peace were being drawn up as quickly as possible. 

On the 12th of July, the tidings reached Riga that peace was 
concluded. They were evil tidings, for they displayed, as a rec- 
ognized fact, what all had hitherto refused to acknowledge to 
themselves — that for the present a successful resistance was out 
of the question. 

The conditions of the peace, and especially Napoleon's refusal 
to enter into any negotiations at all till Hardenberg was removed, 
showed clearly in what a state of dependence he intended to keep 
Prussia.* To Niebuhr this attitude of subjection to France was 
so painful, and the state of the country appeared so hopeless, that 
he again sent a request for his dismissal to one of his colleagues, 
for him to transmit to the King. He was aware that upon the 
suggestion of Napoleon, and the recommendation of Hardenberg, 

* Napoleon declared he would rather carry on the war for forty years than 
treat with Hardenberg, on which Hardenberg instantly sent in his resignation. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 155 

the King had written to Stein requesting him to resume office, 
but he did not anticipate that Stein would consent, in the face of 
the overwhelming difficulties, which would again beset him from 
unworthy intrigues, as well as the nearly desperate situation of 
the country. With Iris friend he would have been willing to work 
in spite of all difficulties and annoyances.* Meanwhile a Pro- 
visional Commission, consisting of Von Altenstein, Von Schoen, 
Von Klewitz, Stageman (then Niebuhr's colleague at the bank), 
and Niebuhr, had been named to discharge Hardenberg's duties, 
until a regular administration should be formed. On hearing 
tins, Niebuhr's friend f kept his letter back until he should obtain 
his decision with regard to this fresh appointment. His resolve 
was not affected by it. It appeared to him impossible that he 
could do any good in a commission where there was to be no 
head, but all the members were to have equal power ; and that 
his belonging to it could only result in injury to his health — already 
much shattered — without answering any useful end. He had a 
high personal regard for the men who were named as his col- 
leagues, but he knew also that upon many points they differed decid- 
edly in their views of administration, so that their meetings would 
be liable to degenerate into mere debating clubs. The immediate 
object of their deliberations was the restoration of the country 
from the ravages occasioned by the war. For this end projects 
were to be at once submitted to them, including the abolition of 
serfdom ; advances for the rebuilding of farms destroyed, and for 
the purchase of live stock ; and the removal of restrictions upon 
trade and the transfer of landed property. Schoen and Schrotter 
were disciples of Adam Smith, and considered that their problem 
was the production of the greatest amount of wealth upon a given 
surface of land. The hitherto existing rights and privileges of 
the various classes, appeared to them hindrances to the free de- 
velopment of the resources of the country. They held it indiffer- 
ent whether the present feebler proprietors remained or not, if 
their place was supplied by wealthier ones, and thus the greatest 
possible amount of profit secured. Stageman and Niebuhr saw 
the dangers of this course, if carried out with a rigid adherence 
to theory — the likelihood of obtaining a class of proprietors who 
would have no moral interest in the welfare of the country, and 
the importance of a numerous class of small landholders — and 

* See Letter xcv. t Most probably Stageman. 



156 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

considered the promotion of the welfare of the actually exist- 
ing occupants of the soil, as the true prohlem of the statesman. 
Conscious of these essential differences in the views of those with 
whom he was called to act, Niebuhr still begged his colleague 
to send in his letter of resignation to the King, who was then at 
Tilsit. He received a very gracious reply, in which the King 
expressed his regret at the state of his health, but testified his un- 
willingness to part with the services of a man like Niebuhr at the 
present crisis, and therefore requested that he would, at least for a 
time, devote himself to the service of the State, and to that end 
repair to Memel as soon as possible. It was not in Niebuhr's na- 
ture to oppose a second letter of resignation to such an expression 
of confidence on the part of the King ; he therefore decided on 
accepting the appointment, and making the attempt, though he 
foresaw that multiplied annoyances and Herculean labors awaited 
him. He left Riga after a two months' residence, and came with 
his wife to Memel. 

In Riga he had become well acquainted with the eminent 
mercantile houses of Klein, and Mitchell. M. Klein was so much 
struck with him personally, and thought so highly of his views of 
commerce, that he offered Niebuhr an equal share in his business, 
in return for which Niebuhr was to be simply employed in forming 
speculations. This highly advantageous offer did not, however, 
attract him, though it touched him deeply as a proof of friend- 
ship. 

About this time he received intelligence of the bombardment 
of Copenhagen by the English, and the capture of the Danish 
fleet. He felt the calamities of Denmark most keenly, and much 
as he was an enemy to France, he could never forgive the En- 
glish for this proceeding. When Denmark was afterward induced 
by it to form an alliance with France, this was always a sore 
point which he could not bear to touch. 

Not long after his arrival in Memel, he received the assurance of 
Stein's entrance into the ministry, which was only delayed by illness. 

LXXXVIII. 

TO BARON VON STEIN. 

Memel, 10th January, 1807. 
I had the honor of writing to your Excellency three days ago, when I 
was stunned by the pain of knowing the certainty of your resignation. 
Allow me to-day to inclose these lines to your Excellency in a letter to a 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 157 

most trustworthy friend; I write for my oicn sake alone, for there is little 
here worth writing about ; the most part of the stories now afloat are too 
much beneath your attention. M. Von Altenstein has now told me every 
thing, and Baron Von Hardenberg has communicated to me for perusal a 
copy of the monstrous, incomprehensible letter which decided your resolu- 
tion. It belongs to history ! Nothing short of such a degree of blindness 

lenders comprehensible the progress of disunion which has brought 

this country to ruin. 

Lord Hutchinson is deeply grieved by this occurrence. He requests to be 
most warmly remembered to your Excellency. You alone have inspired him 
with unbounded confidence; he reveres you, and proclaims it now more 
loudly than ever. The unpleasant occurrence with regard to young Walpole 
(who has been arrested at Goldap for traveling without Prussian passports 
which M. Von Zastrow had declined to give him as superfluous) has in- 
creased the unpleasant state of feeling between him and M. Von Zastrow. 
This does not surprise me, but it grieves me that, even with Baion Von 
Hardenberg, he does not feel able to speak so openly, so from heart to 
heart, as with your Excellency. He finds him too mild, too hesitating. 
Forgive me if it is an indiscretion to repeat such expressions. 

The King's speech to the Parliament promises indefatigable efforts. 
Lord H. sees no end to the war ; it must last for years. He hopes the 
Russians will improve rapidly under the training of circumstances ; his 
opinion of them is much raised, chiefly, I believe, by the views of Colonel 
Sontag, who has now returned. But he still fears a general engagement. 
Your Excellency is probably aware that four English ships of the line are 
in the Baltic, and that a number of frigates are to come in the spring 

As soon as the sea becomes less dangerous — two vessels are lying on the 
strand at this moment, and portions of the wrecks of two others — I shall 
request my dismissal, and embark on the first armed English ship, which 
touches at any point sufficiently near this place, or the place where we 
may be then. Should the stream of emigration carry us to Russia we 
may probably remain there. It seems as if that empire would not be so 
easily overpowered, and in the service of that State one might perchance 
be placed, not on the frightful ice plains of the Neva, but on classic soil 
beside the glorious Bosphorus and Hellespont. 

It is now, I think, clearly proved that a system of compromise, and a 
coalition, would have led to nothing. For the cunning and intrigues, which 
would have insured that such a coalition. should be destroyed at last with 
advantage to one party, were as easy to your enemies as they were beneath 

your Excellency and your friends 

With deep and cordial respects, I am ever 

Your Excellency's most obedient, 

Niebuhr. 

LXXXIX. 

Memel, 10th March, 1807. 
Doubt not, your Excellency, that the K. A. [Emperor Alexander] is most 
desirous to have you near him ; that he is worthy to have you in his serv- 
ice you know. Hitherto I have declined all proposals to myself from that 
quarter. If your Excellency does not go thither, I shudder to think of the 
future. Here I shall eertainly soon draw my head out of the net, and then 



158 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHE. 

await the course of events. For the present, I am detained by the pressing 
wants of the country, in the relief of which I think I am of use, though the 
mode in which all business is carried on is enough to drive one mad. The 
probability of some alteration in the ministry changes daily — a sufficient 
proof that nothing is to be expected ! Meanwhile, M. Von Hardenberg will 
not allow me to leave till all is decided; this, combined, as I have said, 
with the hope of saving the country ten to twenty per cent, in the purchase 
of corn, and of thus alleviating the famine, is what keeps me here in spite 
of my longing to get away. 

xc. 

TO HIS WIFE. 

Bartenstein, 5th May, 1807. 

A few lines, which our friend Deetz undertook to have safely forwarded, 
announced to you yesterday our arrival in this little city, formerly a capital. 
Since your letter of Monday I have no immediate news of you, though I 
have heard of you through Oesterreich and Woltersdorf. I find that your 
fever has not yet left you. I hope it may ere long. To me too it would 
be an inexpressible comfort to be with you again 

Every thing is quiet, and Heaven only knows how matters actually 
stand, and when action will recommence. You will, however, understand, 
that I can not write to you about this. We have no pleasure in our 
residence here. Our journey from Konigsberg was deeply interesting, but 
the most mournful I ever made in my life. 

Even in the neighborhood of Konigsberg we saw single ruined houses ; 
in the villages the majority are uninhabited ; no cattle are to be seen in 
the fields ; here and there — but very rarely — you may meet with a small 
flock of sheep, or a few pigs ; in the villages scarcely a creature appears ; 
the few whom you do see look anxious and miserable. At Eylau the de- 
vastation has been carried up to the very gates of the town. The principal 
street does not look so bad as it did. 

No one could give us much account of what had happened, and all seem- 
ed unwilling to speak of it ; we found, however, guides to the field of battle, 
who explained it to us. I could not bring away any relics for you — we 
found nothing on the field but rags of uniforms. 

You can hardly form any idea of the dearness and distress here. Memel 
is comparatively a cheap place, in the enjoyment of abundance. At Lord 
Hutchinson's I have seen Prince Czartorinsky, and at Hardenberg' s have 
made acquaintance with General Pfuel. I did not see Rucheln in Konigs- 
berg. I must make haste or I shall lose this courier. Altenstein and I 
have both caught colds, but are otherwise well. 

May God watch over you ! I long to hear again from you. My thoughts 
are often with you, notwithstanding my restless life. 

XCI. 

Bartenstein, 10^ May, 1807. 

As M. Von Schoen is returning to Konigsberg for a few days, I have a 
safe opportunity of sending you a few confidential lines. 

All that we see and hear in this place is most depressing. There is 
discord among the generals, and the Emperor seems to withdraw his pro- 
tection from Bennigsen. It has become the fashion to depreciate him, and 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 159 

if all treat him so, it would be no wonder if he were to lose confidence in 
himself. But when he is accused of intentional misconduct, an inward 
voice in me pronounces him innocent. 

It is believed here that Dantzic is lost. God help us if it be so ! But 
little progress is made in our affairs, and I am convinced I could direct them 
as well elsewhere as here. I think it is possible I may return to Konigs- 
berg for a few days on a mission from Russia. 

It comforts me to know that you strive to preserve your tranquillity. 
Your dear letters of the 5th and 7th arrived yesterday. Even if we must 
renounce all consolatory anticipations of a brighter future for our country, 
let us not yield to despair — not even if gloomy cares and sorrow must 
accompany us through life. Forgive me for not writing more to you now 
Every precaution has been taken to insure our safety in case of a defeat 
So much for your relief. Farewell. 

XCI1. 

Bartenstein, llth May, 1807. 

Schoen took with him yesterday a letter to you, which will have 

a bad effect on you, from the gloomy prospects it contains. Others had 
already told me that they felt less courage at head-quarters than any- 
where else. I thought it was their own fault. But hardly had we arrived 
here when we were overwhelmed by a flood of depressing innuendoes and 
diatribes — most depressing because it is clear that a system of minute 
attention to details in strategy has gained the upper hand, and the old 
Russian method of war, whose object is to bend or break, is cramped, and 
not allowed fair play. 

I still can not be made to believe myself mistaken in regard to General 
Bennigsen. I know too well, from former experience, how often really clever 
people are misled by theories to bestow undeserved blame, and maintain 
unwarranted assertions, because they overlook the peculiarities of the indi- 
vidual case, and, instead of actual experience, which gives courage and 
consolation to the man whom they blame, have no recollection of the case 
resembling reality. But I can far less understand how it is that, a short 
time ago, thanks and tokens of confidence were heaped upon him, and yet 
he is now spoken of as a man of mediocre talents. It is said that the 
Emperor and King are going to-morrow to Heilsberg \ probably it is a recon- 
noitring expedition I feel myself excessively fettered in writing to 

you ; from Konigsberg I shall be able to write more openly. 

XCIII. 

Konigsberg, 20th May, 1807. 
Notwithstanding the distance which still separates us, and although I 
can not by any means consider myself as on my way back to you, yet the 
knowledge that I am writing to you from no greater distance than thirty, 
eight miles, and that my further movements can only bring me nearer to 
you, make my heart much lighter than it was in Bartenstein. I arrived 
here this morning, and am staying with Philipps. I have come here alone, 
charged with a mission ; if possible to arrange an affair of great import- 
ance with Hutchinson, who will probably start to-morrow, by way of Pillau, 
for Stralsund. I have, however, little hope of success, for he has not acted 
in this matter as we had a right to expect from him. 



160 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

I was called away here to go to him, and now I can have the delight of 
telling you that I have completely succeeded in my object, and have over- 
come all his difficulties and objections, by clearness and decision, so that 
now my journey, our separation, my illness, will not have been altogether 
in vain, for he has distinctly assured me that he would not have placed the 
same confidence in any other member of the Prussian government — not that 
any great confidence was required in this case, but his views are very sin- 
gular. I have had a very disagreeable journey from Bartenstein here. I 
was obliged to travel all night ; it has not, however, done me any harm, 
and a good meal has done me a great deal of good, which deserves mention 
after the bad food we had for so long in Bartenstein. This bad food, and 
the other depressing circumstances which surrounded me then, have had an 
injurious effect upon my health. I was obliged, by Hardenberg' s desire, to 
bring with me a major in the army, Count Chasot, who is going to Stral- 
sund, and who was not at all an unpleasant companion. Nicolovius has 
given me a letter from Lene to you, which has been five months on the 
road ; it will give you great pleasure, particularly the lines from our little 
Tiny. I have received your letters of the 17th and 18th. To-morrow 
Hardenberg is expected here, and as the King intends going to Memel in a 
few days, and Hardenberg certainly will not allow him to go alone, it may 
be considered as decided that we shall soon return. Greet the Kriideners 
warmly from me. I have but too much to say to him. 

XCIV. 

KoNIGSBERG, 25th May, 1807. 

A bad swelled face detains me from the Council, and affords me a quiet 
evening alone in my own room — the first I have had for a long time ; and 
I mean to spend it partly in writing to you, partly in getting rid of some of 
my work. I am engaged in correspondence both with General Bennigsen 
and Geheimrath von Popoff, which under other circumstances would be 
agreeable, but as things now stand is simply laborious. Then I have also 
to make out a plan of finance for General Budberg.* How easy, how inter- 
esting, under other circumstances — how fruitless, how discouraging in times 
like the present ! 

Here I am in much better health. In Bartenstein I was really extremely 
unwell, and the scarcity of necessaries was so great, that at last 1 could 
not even obtain oatmeal porridge. With the best wishes, Altenstein could 
do very little for me. He was constantly interrupted during the day, and 
had to sit up whole nights, to work. Schoen was quite absorbed in business. 

The money matters which I have undertaken for M. von Popoff bring me 
into connection with several Russian officers. The Russians appear to have 
confidence in me, and if I alone had to do with them, I believe that a good 
deal might be brought to pass. But this can not be ; for, on the one hand, 
it would oblige me to remain at head-quarters, and on the other, I should 
not be after all in my proper place. For I may freely confess to myself, 
that to occupy any subordinate position, in which I had not a consciousness 
of the real superiority of my official head, such as I had toward Stein, 
would be to leave the only post in which I can labor with success. The 
various spheres of action resemble the different regions of the atmosphere, 
which suit differently organized classes of men. Some are most comfort- 
* The Russian General. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 161 

able in low countries ; others in the ordinary middle atmosphere ; others 
can only exist in the pure mountain air. I belong to the last class — to 
those who must have freedom for the soul and intellect, and for this very 
reason I ought not to have entered into the restraints of official life. I am 
often seized with regret when I think of my beautiful researches into history 
— my happy meditations on dark periods — my power of bringing them viv- 
idly before my mind's eye — my life in antiquity. Where is all this gone ? 
Shall I ever renew it ? Shall I ever be able to restore it to fresh life ? 

The 26th. — I was interrupted yesterday ; I was about to write out for 
you a passage of Cicero, where he says, "My life fell in the time of a great 
war, distinguished on one side by enormous crime, on the other by great 
calamity." 

To-day, there is some talk of advancing the troops, in order, at least, 
to save Graudenz, as it is impossible to deceive one's self any longer about 
Dantzic. The English ships are returning to the roads, and Kamenskoy's 
artillery is embarked. If the fortress had been well provided with am- 
munition, it might long have held out against a siege conducted in so irreg- 
ular a manner. Much remains incomprehensible to me. Even if our re- 
inforcements arrive, disease will carry many off : want and bad food exhaust 
the strength both of the men and horses. Our calculations as to the 
strength of the Russian army are quite delusive ; of this I am unanswer- 
ably convinced. Bennigsen has completely lost the confidence of the 
Emperor, yet the latter does not interfere with him. If Bennigsen is 
what the Emperor and his confidential servants hold him to be, he could 
not be too quickly removed. In the whole chaos of opinions concerning 
him, this much seems to me to be clear, that he is unwilling to expose his 
laurels to any new risk. "Whether he deserves these laurels, or owes them 
— after the lion courage of his soldiers — »to accident and good fortune, is a 
question on which no light can be thrown, and shows only too clearly, by 
the uncertainty in which eye-witnesses are left, how little history is able 
to represent with strict accuracy. 

You may reckon with undiminished confidence on the courage of the 
Russians, but I can not be blind to other things. However, I must not 
speak of this in letters. The departure for Tilsit, it is now said, will not 
take place before the end of the week. 

Since beginning this, a considerable amount of provisions has arrived, 
of which I may take the chief merit to myself. 

xcv. 

TO STEIN. 

Riga, — r July, 1807. 
28th 

At Bartenstein I was so ill with the fever which I have men- 
tioned (which want and distress, combined with the unhealthy weather, 
had rendered epidemic, so that the soldiers and inhabitants were attacked 
by it in great numbers), that I was obliged to let all the frequently-occur- 
ring opportunities of forming interesting acquaintances pass unused ; and 
in Kbnigsberg we were alone, otherwise I should have taken some prepar- 
atory steps even before the arrival of your Excellency's answer, though 
it would have been indiscreet and presumptuous to have treated of that 



162 MEMOIR OP NIEBUHR. 

in your name. And thus I hope to be justified before your severe judg- 
ment. M. Von Hardenberg sent me word, and confirmed the announce- 
ment himself when we met, that he had undertaken the premiership, as 
far as internal affairs are concerned, only until the King should send your 
Excellency such an invitation to resume the ministry of the interior as 
would give you full satisfaction, and you should make the sacrifice to the 
country of returning in spite of* all that has occurred. I believe that he 
said the same thing to the Emperor, and that the latter then firmly hoped 
for your speedy return as a benefit to Prussia, in which country he then 
took so much interest, and would have considered it his duty to do all in 
his power to bring it to pass. At that period, however, M. Von H., who 
I think wished to excite a desire in the King's mind to have your Excel- 
lency once more in his service before making any proposition to him, seems 
not to have made sufficient progress in this design. To me this prospect 
was my only consolation, but on this point I could speak better than write. 
The King has now transmitted a request, and, without doubt, a very 
sincere one, to your Excellency, to return to him and to the country in 
this pressing emergency, in which none but an extraordinary man can 
bring help, and M. Von Hardenberg has united his earnest entreaties to 
those of our sovereign. We await with eager anxiety the announcement 
of your decision ; to yourself, to the country, a most momentous one. 
Some believe and hope that your Excellency will accept office, and appeal 
to your conscience as being the only man to whom we can look. Others 
doubt ; and I, for my own part, can fully enter into the doubts which will 
hold you back. You will not shrink from the task of rescuing from an- 
nihilation a country so utterly ruined, and restoring its internal energies, 
mournful as is the aspect it presents, gigantic the enterprise, and dark as 
is the future and our outward fiMfcune. But you will shrink from it, when 
you think of the lasting hindrance to all comprehensive undertakings aris- 
ing from the mediocrity and baseness, that can scarcely even now be dis- 
lodged from their present possession of power — and the vanity of the idea 
that a better day must follow the night of incapacity and little-mindedness, 
which will fill you with a sentiment of disgust beforehand. The Titans 
piled mountains upon mountains, and rejoiced in their might, but the stone 
of Sisyphus was a hellish torment. Having a presentiment that your Ex- 
cellency would believe your efforts unavailing, and hence refuse to take 
office, I yielded to my desire to retire from public life altogether, intending 
to return in the first instance to my native country, collect my property 
together, though that is as yet but very small, and live somewhere quiet- 
ly as a private man ; unless your Excellency should one day summon me 
to engage in public business, or, contrary to my hopes, I should find it 
necessary as a means of support. I have not yet received an answer to 
my request. I fear that it will be delayed under the vague idea that I 
may be made useful in some way. At all events, I hope to receive a 
furlough, and before long it will be decided whether your Excellency accept 
office or not. In the latter case, I shall insist on my dismissal, being 
quite decided neither to take part in an ill-organized, many-headed ad- 
ministration, like the present Provisional Commission, nor yet to act under 
the worse than mediocre men of the late administration, whom I learnt 
to know thoroughly at Memel last winter. I have' further declined a seat 
in the Provisional Commission, because it is impossible to transact busi- 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 163 

ness under bucIi a form, and also because it is impossible to remain long 
a member of it without falling out with friends, when their principles are 
too monstrous, and the consequences they involve still more dreadful ; 
and without exposing numberless weak points to the enemy ; for great 
innovations are in contemplation, with regard to some of which 1 do not 
feel myself sufficiently acquainted with the partictilar case, while on 
others I am entirely unable to form a judgment.* Besides, I am a pure 
Mahometan — a strict Unitarian in administrative affairs, and abhor all 
Commissions and the like with my whole heart. Hence your Excellency 
will not blame me for refusing to connect myself with them, though many 
single oversights might be prevented by a contrary course ; and will also 
pardon me if I should be absent on your arrival. It will be easy to decide 

what steps to take in that case 

I should have liked to have added some facts which would be interest- 
ing to your Excellency, respecting the Russian and Slavonic languages ; 
the affinity which I have discovered between them and the Persian, and 
how they are by no means so difficult as people believe them or make 
them ; also about the G-rusinian and Russian literature, which I have 
become acquainted with through a Russian work — about the noble Russian 
people — about the extremely interesting commerce of Riga; but it would 
have enlarged my letter to too great an extent. I shall take leave to do 
so at a future opportunity 

XCVI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Riga, I6tk August, 1807. 
For many years past (our connection will soon include the half of my 
life), my thoughts, as well as those of my Milly, with all our warmest 

feelings, have been with you on this day How has every thing 

changed since those former times when I have celebrated this day ! Where 
is now the tranquillity with which we then contemplated the external 
world ten years ago. as if it could never drag us into its whirlpool ? 
Even a year ago it was only at times that gloomy anticipations for our 
own fate rose before my eyes ; my Milly scarcely felt them ; and about 
you we had no anxieties. Now we are resigned to our own future, and I 
often repeat to myself the golden proverb, " He who can not what he will, 
let him will what he can." We shall get on thus, and with the certainty 
of never wanting bread, nor, wherever I may be placed, the affection and 
respect of the nobler among my fellow-creatures, I live with less anxiety 
for myself than you probably imagine. But all our apprehensions are 
excited for our country and for you. Manifold reports have awakened our 
fears that that may soon take place, which, according to the present 
march of events, must take place sooner or later — and what fears ? W<* 
can not describe our grief and anxiety, for our expressions might be watched 
in several quarters ; we have often expressed them to you before, and now 
we have nothing but helpless wishes. Oh that the storm might disperse, 
that we might meet once more on the undesecrated, uninjured soil of our 
fatherland ! How it has happened that we have been obliged to give up 
our fixed intention of going by sea to Copenhagen this month, and revisit- 
* See page 155. 



164 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ing you all before the winter, is a long story, which Milly has written to 
you in that letter. Had we remained in Memel, every thing would have 
been more quickly arranged, and we should have crossed before the season 
was too far advanced to permit of our return. For there, too, my dismissal 
would have been very unwillingly accorded, as there is a general wish to 
retain me in the service, though probably without any definite idea as to 
how I can be employed ; and this incomprehensible and universal confi- 
dence in me goes to my heart. (Do not think it vanity in me to speak 
of this, and do not take it amiss if I ask you not to look on it as a dream 

of my own fancy) If I had received a furlough, we might have seen 

each other again, and refreshed our wearied spirits 5 now it would be too 
late ; the matter has been put off so long, that I could not make use of 
leave of absence if it were granted. 

Your letter of the 20th of June, is the last we have received, and this 
absence of letters is now doubly painful. I have been foolish not to keep 
a diary from the commencement of our flight, in which you all might have 
had a living picture of us, in the many changing scenes of our various for- 
tunes and positions. If these pictures had been no more than peeps into 
the showman's box, yet still they would have had some value. Often I 
can not write at all, and now when I wish to do so, and am therefore bet- 
ter able to write than usual, I am disturbed by the doubt whether all this 
may not be written in vain ! And that thought makes my eyes overflow. 
I have long had it on my mind to enter into an explanation with you on 
one point ; not that your expressions have hurt me, but because we ought 
to understand each other, and because one wishes one's best friends to judge 
one correctly in every thing. I allude to your disapproval of my under- 
taking to learn the Russian and Slavonic languages, with the view of ex- 
tending my studies to the other written branches of this ancient mother- 
tongue, which is spoken by fifty millions. It would have pleased me better 
if Milly had not mentioned these studies to you at all, because I foresaw 
that your one-sided ideas on this point would rather lead you to blame 
than to praise. I will not exactly say that you are entirely wrong, but I 
can not help thinking that you do not look at the matter from the right 
point of view. If I had employed a period of genial quiet — of inward life 
and activity, accompanied by the outward appliances necessary for bring- 
ing forth finished productions, in learning a new language, such a use of 
my time would most certainly have deserved blame. But at Memel, where 
it was impossible to free myself from the present time, and the present was 
full of oppressive cares — where I had absolutely no books, the case was 
different ; and I therefore unhesitatingly include my new philological ac- 
quisitions among the things which give me the hope that I have made as 
good a use of last winter as was in my power. Or, if Nature had destined 
me for a poet, the case again would have been different ; such toilsome- 
labor is beneath the poet. But to the historian — or if that also is too high 
a title for me — to the historical inquirer, it is necessary to understand all 
nations, were it possible, in their own tongues. Languages have one in- 
scrutable origin, like all national peculiarities, and he has but an imperfect 
knowledge of a people, who has not become acquainted with it through its 
own language. Any one who is conversant with the Oriental languages, 
must feel vexed to read what has been said and dreamed by those who 
have attacked the Persians and Arabs without understanding their Ian- 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 165 

guages. What sort of judgment of the French would he formed by a man 
who had read, say, nothing but " Telemachus" in a translation? It is a 
great pity that one can not learn all languages ; however, that is so im- 
possible that you will not suppose I have formed such a mad project. I 
have now probably reached the limit of my acquirements. 1 think I have 
derived this advantage at least from my studies of last winter, that I be- 
lieve I have formed a far more distinct conception of the ancient and mod- 
ern Russians than other foreigners, with the exception of Schlozer. My 
acquaintance with the Slavonic language has led me to a very important 
discovery in the history of races, and their original derivation, which would 
not be so new as it is, if more had occupied themselves with these 
tongues. I also read the Slavonian Bible, and that led me to a new theolog- 
ical hypothesis, so I have not merely added words to words, and piled my 
memory with dead matter. That to write is better than to learn, is in- 
deed true for it is better to create than to be learned; but for the former 
1 must wait for a time when the external world does not hold me fast in 
its iron clutches, otherwise I should only produce something mediocre, and 
the literary enterprises which would admit of execution now, would give 
as little satisfaction to my friends as my studies in philology. Will that 
time ever come ? Till then, love, remember the saying of Nathan, " we 
must not require that every tree should have one bark," nor should we 
blame a lopped tree, if its branches no longer form the beautiful crown of 
its youth. Farewell ! This deeply significant word I say to you with 
great emotion. 

Stein had received the letters requesting him to resume office 
while seriously ill with a tertian fever. He instantly dictated a 
letter to the king accepting office without making conditions of 
any kind, recommending, however, Count Reden and Niebuhr 
— the latter on account of his " knowledge of finance and the 
French language" — as suitable persons to settle the question of 
the contributions with the French authorities. He arrived in 
Memel on the 30th of September, and immediately took the su- 
preme direction of civil affairs, with a voice in the deliberation 
on military affairs. 

The Provisional Commission with which Niebuhr was connect- 
ed, had begun even before Stein's arrival, to sketch the outlines 
of those great measures of civil reform, the execution of which 
has rendered his short administration a memorable epoch in the 
internal history of Prussia, and it continued to work with him in 
the reorganization of the vital energies of the country. Before 
the end of October, an edict was issued by the king freeing land- 
ed property from various restrictions on possession, sale, &c, and 
another aboHshing serfdom throughout the Prussian dominions ; 
and within the following month, plans were drawn up for the 
entire remodeling of the administration, and the arrangement of 



166 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the financial system. The latter appears to have been that in 
which Niebuhr was principally employed, and he also took a 
share in the deliberation on the other subjects. 

The most urgent problem of the government was to find the 
means of paying the contributions to the French, which was the 
condition of their evacuating the country ; for till the incubus of 
their presence was removed from the unhappy land, it was im- 
possible to resuscitate its exhausted energies. One portion of 
Stein's plans for raising money was the negotiation of a loan 
from the Dutch capitalists, then the richest in Europe. This 
business was intrusted to Niebuhr, and he willingly undertook 
the commission, though he neither concealed from himself nor 
from Stein the difficulties attending its execution, in the present 
position of Prussia. 

Accordingly on the 21st of November, 1807, he left Memel for 
Berlin. The journey, performed in the depth of winter, through 
a country devastated by war, and with a sick wife, was a toil- 
some and hazardous enterprise. On arriving at Berlin, in the 
middle of December, he was met by the intelligence of the death 
of his mother, who had long been suffering from dropsy. His 
grief for her loss was heightened by the disappointment of the 
hopes he had cherished of a speedy meeting after their long separ- 
ation, since his business rendered it necessary for him to go in the 
first instance to Hamburgh. He was obliged to leave his wife 
behind him ill in Berlin, and proceed alone to Hamburgh, where 
she afterward joined him. From thence they made excursions to 
Meldorf and Niitschau, to visit their relations and Moltke. In 
the middle of February they continued their journey to Amster- 
dam, where they arrived in the beginning of March, 1808. 

At first there seemed some chance of Niebuhr' s succeeding in 
his mission, although it at once appeared that the Dutch capital- 
ists would have considerable difficulty in raising the money, and 
the Dutch government, who also wanted to borrow, were natur- 
ally opposed to the transaction. But all hopes of the kind were 
crushed by Napoleon's attack on the Spanish monarchy, for, only 
a short time before, he had induced the principal Dutch banking 
house of Hope & Co., to lend a considerable sum of money to 
Spain, by assuring them that he had no hostile intentions toward 
that country. They now naturally shrank from making any ad- 
vances to a state like Prussia, which seemed destined to share 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 167 

the fate of Spain so soon as Napoleon should have time to proceed 
to its annihilation. It was, however, of such urgent importance 
that the Prussians should at least convince Napoleon of their 
honest intention to pay the contributions, that Niebuhr was 
directed to continue every effort to induce the Dutch bankers to 
listen to the proposition on any terms whatever. He was there- 
fore ordered to remain in Amsterdam, and in June, 1808, was 
formally accredited as Prussian minister at the Court of Holland. 
But as months passed away, and the course of public events seem- 
ed to remove the object of his mission continually farther from 
attainment, Niebuhr requested his recall. He received it in Feb- 
ruary, 1809, and was on the point of setting out on his return; 
when an unexpected offer to undertake the loan was made by M. 
Valckenaer. An agreement was drawn up between them in 
March, corresponding in all essential points to Niebuhr's original 
proposals. The readiness of Valckenaer to enter into a transac- 
tion which all the other bankers had thought too unsafe, was 
partly the result of his personal confidence in Niebuhr, and partly, 
in Niebuhr's opinion, of his own over-sanguine disposition. He 
was, however, indirectly encouraged to do so by the assurance of 
the French embassador, that the securities on which the loan was 
to be raised " should be respected in any case." After all, the 
negotiation fell through for a time, owing to the refusal of the 
King of Holland, on the score of his own pressing necessities, to 
grant his permission, without which no foreign loan could be effected. 
Meanwhile, Stein's projects for the ultimate deliverance of Ger- 
many had been discovered by Napoleon, and had led to his pro- 
scription in the month of January, 1809. He had been succeeded 
in the ministry by Counts Altenstein and Dohna. Both of these 
were personal friends of Niebuhr ; to the former especially he was 
warmly attached, but he recognized their incapacity to enter into 
and carry out the great projects of reform which Stein had sketched, 
and as he could, at all events, form no plans for his future life 
until the general arrangements of the different branches of the 
adrninistration were completed and the appointments settled, he 
resolved to travel, by way of Hamburgh, to Holstein, and wait 
there till affairs should assume a definite shape. He left Amster- 
dam with his wife on the 9th of April, transacted some necessary 
public business at Hamburgh, and from thence went to stay with 
his relations in Dithmarsh. • 



168 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

During his residence in Holland, he had studied with great at- 
tention the condition of the country, its institutions past and pres- 
ent, and especially the nature and gradual formation of its soil by 
deposits from the sea and rivers. Few or none of his observations 
on these subjects will be found in the following letters ; they are 
chiefly contained in a series of a less personal character which used 
to go the round of his friends in Holstein, and which have been 
published since his death in his " Kleine Nachgelassene Schriften." 

M. Von Altenstein made proposals to him from Konigsberg, 
where the Prussian government was still stationed, but the per- 
manence of the cabinet seemed to him so uncertain, that he de- 
termined to await in Holstein the further progress of events. In 
this undecided state of affairs the greater part of the summer 
passed away. Much as he enjoyed the society of his friends, Nie- 
buhr longed at last to find a settled dwelling-place and fixed em- 
ployment. At length he was expressly summoned (as the return 
of the court and government to Berlin was still delayed) to repair 
to Konigsberg and secure his appointment. 

Here he found every thing, not only as regarded his own posi- 
tion, but likewise all that related to the management of public 
business, in as much confusion as he had expected. The disastrous 
war, and the insecure position in which the State was still placed, 
had thrown affairs into the greatest disorder, and there seemed to 
be no energetic hand capable of seizing the whole with its power- 
ful grasp, and bringing order out of chaos. 

Altenstein, a learned and philosophical man, but destitute of 
statesman-like genius or energy, had, from the very commence- 
ment of his administration, carried on the government in a spirit 
totally opposite to that of Stein. The project of the latter for the 
reform of the administration, which had already received the royal 
assent, was laid aside ; the promise of representative institutions 
was recalled ; no steps were taken to give an opportunity for the 
expression of public opinion ; and he drew back fiom co-operation 
with Schoen, whom Stein had recommended as his own successor, 
and who was a decided advocate of popular institutions. During 
the unhappy campaign of Wagram, in which Austria, for the last 
time, attempted to stem Napoleon's encroachments, he could not 
resolve to take any decided part for the assistance of Austria, but 
let the time slip away without forming any definite plans for the 
future, or adhering to any fixed system of policy. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 169 

This state of things filled Niebuhr with deep solicitude. His 
health gave way, and he fell into a state of dejection sucn as he 
had not even experienced during the miserable years of 1806 and 
1807, when, even in the depths of calamity, there had been some 
noble minds at the helm, struggling to save the State from abso- 
lute shipwreck. It was some relief to him when his appointment, 
as head of the department for the management of the national 
debt and the monetary institutions, obliged him once more to turn 
all his thoughts to active employment, by which he might hope, 
at least in a subordinate sphere, to effect some benefit to the State. 
The appointment was made in November, and in December he 
returned from Konigsberg to Berlin. 

The contract which Niebuhr had concluded with Valckenaer, 
had been ratified by the King of Prussia, with the most express 
assurances of his complete satisfaction ; and, with great effort, 
Niebuhr succeeded in keeping the parties concerned steady to their 
offer till, in the beginning of 1810, the King of Holland yielded 
the required permission, which was in fact extorted by Napoleon 
from him, on his visit to Paris in the early part of that year. On 
the 1st of March, 1810, the loan was opened. The condition of 
Holland, which was utterly ruined by its annexation to France, 
in July, rendered it of comparatively little assistance as a financial 
operation, though even its partial success was greater than Nie- 
buhr had anticipated in the then condition of Prussia, and con- 
sidering that it was the only loan that had been effected on the 
continent since 1808. It was, however, of incalculable political 
value to Prussia, for it was the fear of depriving himself of the 
actual revenue which Napoleon expected from this source, that 
withheld him from attacking the existence of Prussia, when the 
prostration of Austria and Spain, combined with the alliance of 
Russia, left him free to do so ; and he thus lost the opportunity, 
which the subsequent breach with Russia, and the invasion of 
Spain by Wellington, prevented his ever regaining. 

Early in 1810, Napoleon had pressed for the immediate pay- 
ment of the contributions, now greatly in arrears. There seemed, 
at that time, to be so little chance of the opening of the Dutch 
loan, and it was certain, even at the best, to produce such a tri- 
fling amount in comparison with what was required, that other 
means of raising money were imperative. The King interrogated 
Altenstein as to the means at his disposal for liquidating them, 
H 



17 o MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

and found that his Minister of Finance had no plan to propose 
but the cession of Silesia. He next consulted Prince Wittgenstein 
on the state of affairs, and the latter drew up a scheme which 
was submitted to Altenstein, who, perceiving it to be thoroughly 
impracticable, refused to take it into consideration. Madame 
Hensler evidently refers to this plan, although she does not state 
that it was concocted by Wittgenstein, when she says, at this date, 
that " a financial project was now submitted to the King, by which 
its promoters fancied that they could annihilate the whole contri- 
bution and the national debt. The plan was laid before the 
members of the government for their consideration. Many of its 
most important provisions appeared to several, and particularly to 
Niebuhr, either impracticable or mischievous. Among these were 
the introduction of paper money, the redemption of the land tax, 
the abolition of many privileges by which the poorer classes would 
have been particularly affected, the seizure of all the hand-mills 
in East Prussia,* the imposition of a tax on consumption extend- 
ing even to the products consumed in the households of the peas- 
antry, and a tax on the license to trade." Niebuhr was, at all 
times, a bitter opponent of Prince Wittgenstein, whom he thorough- 
ly distrusted. When the plan met with opposition, the King, 
under the advice of Wittgenstein, applied to Hardenberg for his 
opinion of it. The report which Hardenberg sent in, determined 
the King to offer him at once the post of Prime Minister, with the 
title of Chancellor of State, but the present ministers were to be 
retained in their several departments subordinate to him. Hard- 
enberg refused the premiership on these terms, but at length 
effected the dismissal of the Altenstein ministry in June, 1810. 
In the mean time, however, he exercised great influence over 
the King, who had lost all confidence in the former administra- 
tion. 

Hardenberg 1 s accession to power was hailed with joy by the 
nation at large, but Niebuhr did not share in the general impres- 
sion in his favor ; indeed, many years after, in Rome, he told a 
friend that he had indeed come to Berlin prepossessed in favor of 
Hardenberg, notwithstanding the laxity of his morals in private 

* Each miller had a monopoly within his own district, and com was not al- 
lowed to be carried out of the district to be ground, but many of the peasants 
had little hand-mills in which they ground what they wanted for their own use. 
The millers paid an excise tax upon all they ground, consequently the posses- 
sion of these hand-mills by the peasants injured the revenue. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 171 

life, but that he had never found himself " so disappointed in any 
man, except in the historian, Johannes Miiller." It was, there- 
fore, unfortunate that, as the finance question was the great prob- 
lem to be solved, Niebuhr was the first person to whom the Chan- 
cellor applied for his co-operation. When Hardenberg communicated 
the programme of his financial plans to Niebuhr, the latter ex- 
pressed his unqualified dissent from them, and was so strongly 
impressed with a sense of their perilous nature, that he held it his 
duty to leave the King himself in no doubt as to his views. He 
sent a memorial to him, in which he openly represented the state 
of the country, and requested that his Majesty would release him 
from his post, as he could not concur in the principles of the ad- 
ministration, and that he would grant him instead a professorship 
in the university which was to be opened at Berlin in the autumn. 
The King forwarded the memorial to Hardenberg, who was nat- 
urally much annoyed at it, and sent for Schoen. But the latter 
was also opposed to his plans, and, after some further consultation, 
all parties transmitted their views to Stein. Hardenberg wrote to 
Niebuhr, upbraiding him, though in courteous terms, with his dis- 
satisfaction at the administration, and requesting him to withdraw 
his resignation, as he hoped that all difficulties would soon be 
surmounted, and he was anxious to have Niebuhr' s counsel and 
assistance.* But while ready to heap personal distinction upon 
him, he withheld that frank explanation of the line of policy he 
intended to pursue, which alone could have removed Niebuhr' s 
scruples, and after negotiations, which lasted several days, he at 
length gave way, and offered to request the King to appoint Nie- 
buhr historiographer in the place of Johannes Von Miiller. This 
post he soon received, but with the condition that he should assist 
Count Hardenberg and the Minister of Finance with his opinions 
and advice when required. Stein judged much more favorably 
of Hardenberg at this time. It was not till after a lengthened! 
intercourse with him, and the events of 1815, 1816, and 1817, 
that he gradually came to a conviction similar to that expressed 
by Niebuhr in his letters. He did not approve of Niebuhr' s con- 
duct in refusing to act with Hardenberg, f but his friendship still 

* According to Stein's Leben, ii. 508, Hardenberg offered Niebuhr the post 
of Minis terofFinance. 

t He writes thus to Wilhelm von Humboldt: "Niebuhr declares his dis- 
sentient opinion. M. von Hardenburg invites him to discuss the matter with 
him, and to send in another plan : to this he vouchsafes no reply, but instead, 
hands in a lengthy chain of argument against Hardenberg' s plan to the King 



172 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

remained unchanged toward him ; and at a later period, upon a 
full knowledge of all the circumstances, he expressed his approba- 
tion of the course he had taken. Niebuhr would willingly have 
accepted office, could he have done so and remained true to his 
principles ; but while Hardenberg offered him a high position, he 
knew that he was rather desired as a skillful tool than as an in- 
dependent coadjutor. He remained for some time in communica- 
tion with Hardenberg, who often sent him projects in which he 
desired his opinion, or sketches of measures, the details of which 
he required him to work out. Their connection, however, ceased 
almost entirely at a later period. 

The following letters will illustrate Niebuhr' s history from the 
autumn of 1807, to the summer of 1810. 

XCVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Landsberg on the Waktha, 13th December, 1807. 
It will be three weeks to-morrow since we left Memel, and to-day we are 
still eighteen German miles from Berlin. A more mournful and distressing 
journey we could not have anticipated, even with the worst apprehensions, 
which the circumstances and the season of the year excited. Prom Memel 
to Berlin it is 108 miles by the nearest route, which is the one we have 
chosen ; the other, by way of Dantzic, is still longer. However, it was 
our intention to have taken this latter road, because it lies through a 
pleasanter country, and one which has suffered less from devastation during 
the war ; also because Dantzic is the residence of the family of our deceased 
friend, Mrs. Solly, and we had intended to make arrangements with them 
for her husband and children, as his spirits were not yet equal to it. But 
in Kbnigsberg, the impossibility of crossing the Werder was represented to 
us in strong, and perhaps exaggerated terms ; for certainly the strip of land 
between Elbing and Dirschau, which is all alluvial deposit from the river, 
is as bad as a marsh road can be in winter. It was impossible to travel 
along the Frische Nehrung either, because the few houses on these downs, 
where travelers have usually been able to find shelter for themselves and 
their horses (for there are no post-horses to be got on this road) , have been 
destroyed in the war ; we were, therefore, obliged to take the regular route 
through Braunsberg, of which we have much repented, since experience has 
taught us, that with post-horses and a moderately heavy carriage, it is pos- 
sible to get along even on the roads most universally decried. We left 
Memel on the 23d of November ; our departure had been fixed for the day 
before, but a storm rendered it impossible to cross the ferry to the Nehrung. 

witbout bringing forward any otber project — and now he wants to appear as a 
martyr to the truth. 

"All this is nothing but a refined egotism, and an instance of the mania so 
increasingly in vogue on the other side of the Elbe for pouring a sauce of high- 
sounding, fine-lady phrases over perfectly commonplace actions." — Stein's Leb- 
en, ii. 507 v ■ F 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 173 

This was rather opportune for me, as I had had a return in the night of 
some of the pains to which my last illness left me liable, which illness had 
been a sort of continuation of my more serious indisposition at Bartenstein. 
We had a comfortable journey along the Nehrung, with fine weather. We 
found every thing looking, on the whole, rather better than on my former 
journeys (this is the third time I have traveled this way) through this fright- 
ful desert, the only one of its kind in Europe. We got to Konigsberg in 
three days. The last stage is a heath track through the fertile, and lately 
very prosperous district of Samland, where now the most mournful tokens 
of the ravages of war — ruined and deserted villages — frequently meet the 
eye. On Wednesday evening, we arrived at Konigsberg, where we stayed 
with our dear friends, Nicolovius and his wife, "who are two of the most 
pure and noble-minded human beings whom we have ever known any where. 
We rested there two days, as I had business to transact. Konigsberg ex- 
cited very melancholy feelings in us. Some of our friends have suffered more 
than one heavy bereavement through the prevailing epidemics : others have 
been cast down by other misfortvmes. I never knew so much happiness 
destroyed in one place within less than a year, as in the circle of our ac- 
quaintance there. On Saturday we began our long journey ; Milly was still 
pretty well — I tolerable, and freer from the disposition to hypochondriasis, 
from which I had suffered so long. Late at night we reached Braunsberg; 
we could not proceed till noon the following day for want of post-horses, and 
because it was necessary to get our passports vised. We now entered one 
of the parts that had suffered most from devastation and pestilence. It is 
a magnificent country, with a very fruitful soil for a distance of ten miles 
from Braunsberg to the Prussian Marches, where it rises into hills of con- 
siderable height. Before this disastrous time, it was inhabited by wealthy 
peasants,* dwelling in beautiful villages, hardly to be surpassed by those 
in the best parts of Holstein. The roads, however, are of the most wretched 
description, and all the worse from having served so long as the high road 
of the armies, and for the transport of artillery, without its being possible 
to repair them ; for now there are scarcely any inhabitants left, and horses 
are very rarely indeed to be seen ; the land is in the stubble, and, as our 
hostess sorrowfully said, "bears only flowers." Owing to the badness of 
the roads we only got as far as Muhlhausen ; and on the 30th to Riesen- 
burg ; from hence, onward, the country was flat and sandy. On the 1st Dec, 
a little behind Marienwerder, we entered upon the deep sea of sand which 
stretches from Westphalia far into Poland, and extends in Prussia to the 
chain of hills I have mentioned. We passed the night at Graudenz, a place 
of sorrowful memory. So far all had gone on well, and though we were 
now about to enter a Polish district, we had lost the apprehensions which 
had been raised that those parts were unsafe and hostile. For provisions 
we had been badly off; milk, eggs, butter, wheaten bread, we were obliged 
to take with us in the carriage, and to lay in a store of, where they were 
to be got ; meat we could scarcely ever obtain. We were well received at 
* Bauer means cultivator of the soil, and to Germans conveys the idea of 
owner nf tbe soil also, as with them the cultivators are generally the proprietors 
of the land. Husbandmen, working for wages, are termed Tagelohner, hired 
day-laborers, and not Bauern, peasants. Thus an Englishman, speaking of 
"the peasantry," and a German speaking of "die Bauern," refer to two very 
different, and in many respects widely-contrasted, classes. This should be borne 
in mind in reading translations of German works on social or historical subjects. 



174 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Graudenz. I was glad to find a town which, from its proximity to the 
fortress, I had supposed to be destroyed, in a flourishing condition. "We 
were shown into an over-heated room ; Milly, who had already suffered 
somewhat from the privations of the journey, &c, became very unwell ; 
however, we continued our journey, and on the way she grew better. On 
the 2d, we arrived at Culm, which is almost entirely Polish, and could get 
no horses ; we were obliged to remain in a disgusting inn, in the midst of 
Polish filth. Milly lay down, but unfortunately this famous day was being 
celebrated at this hotel with a concert and ball. The next day we reached 
Bromberg. Milly's only wish was for repose, and she felt doubtful if we 
must not rest on the following day. This was decided by our finding that 
all the horses had been seized on for General Caulincourt. Milly kept her 
bed all day with fever and head-ache. We sent for a physician, at the 
recommendation of a merchant to whom I had a letter of introduction. His 
appearance, which gave token of extreme old age and stupidity, frightened 
us. The old man showed so many signs of imbecility that we were afraid 
to try his remedies. Another was recommended to us; but we got out of 
the frying-pan into the fire. It pains me to tell you of his proceedings. 
He would not show the prescriptions ; but their effects seem to indicate that 
he treated the delicate woman as if she had the constitution of a horse. As 
he would give no counter-remedies, we helped ourselves with old prescrip- 
tions which we had preserved. We had another horrible evening and night 
to endure ; for suddenly we heard firing on all sides. The town was full 
of Poles celebrating a festival after their barbarous national customs, 
namely, with drinking, dancing, letting off fireworks and firing muskets. 
Fancy Milly's sensitiveness increased to the highest point by illness, and 
shots and squibs and crackers let off under our window every minute ! You 
cau imagine my anxiety. She had, in fact, another attack of fever, but 
she entreated so earnestly that I would take her away the next day, that 
I yielded. We left, therefore, on the 9th ; Milly still extremely weak. We 
had to wait a long time for post-hor&es, so that we did not reach Nakel till 
late in the evening. Here we found a good night's lodging. On the 10th 
she felt better. We proceeded, intending only to travel two stages. It was 
a very rough day, and there was some draught in the carriage. Where we 
wanted to stop there were no rooms to be had, so we were obliged to go 
further. We were confidently assured that we should find comfortable 
accommodation at Schneidemiihl, a flourishing little town. In consequence 
of the roads being deep in sand and marsh, we did not arrive there till two 
in the morning, and here, also, we could get no room on account of the num- 
ber of troops quartered there on their march. It was a dreadful moment. 
Milly was exhausted to the last degree. At length the post-master allowed 
us to go to his wife's residence. She, however, either wotild not or could 
not give us a room with a fire, and showed us into one that was cold and 
wet. We had, therefore, no choice but to go on at all risks. We procured 
horses and drove three miles further to Schonlanke. Here, likewise, we 
could at first get no accommodation. Milly was by this time so ill that I 
sat beside her in terror. At last the post-master took pity on us, and 
allowed us to pass a few hours in his warm room till another was heated. 
One is very thankful for kindness of this sort under such circumstances. 
At last Milly was able to lie down. She remained the greater part of the 
day in bed. Her former malady showed itself again. We used our reme- 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 175 

dies and subdued it. There was nothing for it but to push on. The 12th, 
we got to Driesen, where we happily found accommodation. But the jour- 
ney had done my poor MilJy no good; she was yesterday, 13th, when I 
began this letter, miserably weak and ill. I have persuaded her to take a 
day's rest here. To-morrow we shall resume our journey toward Berlin, 
which we most ardently desire to reach, in order to get medical advice and 
rest for her. We shall manage to hold out these eighteen miles, as we have 
traveled nine- and- twenty from Bromberg. You may fancy what a state 
of anxiety I am in. It is very inconvenient for us, too, that we have no 
maid-servant, since we have left ours in Memel ; and we shall find it so 
likewise in Berlin, till we can get one, as I must often be away on business. 
We keep ourselves up with hope. Among the most consoling images it 
presents to us is that of seeing you and our friends in Holstein. I shall 
write to you from Berlin as soon as I can. Perhaps Milly will be able to 
write a few lines too. 

XCVIII. 

Meldorf, February, 1808. 

I can not leave the place from which I wrote to you for the first time 
twelve years ago, without transporting myself to your presence with my 
pen. 

Dearest Dora, we feel the separation from you most painfully. The 
consoling and strengthening influence of our meeting with you will long 
remain with us ; it renewed the spring-tide of our old friendship, and new 
seed has been sown which will bear fruit. My aged father has become 
very weak, as you, no doubt, perceived during your stay here in the sum- 
mer, but did not like to tell us of it. He is no more infirm in mind than 
he was before my journey to England ; but the life and interest which his 
farming occupations had given him for years is quite gone, and I fear there 
is no other stimulant that can excite him in the same way again. His 
strength has failed much since the autumn^ when we saw him together, 
and the weakness of his eyes incapacitates him from any exertion. All 
this makes me very sad. 

I pour out my heart to you about this sorrow : I feel as if we had both 
for a long time past said too little in our letters about our personal con- 
cerns, on which, however, we can scarcely have any reserves with each 
other. Our conversations at the places where we have seen each other, 
have been seldom so free, that we could form a vivid picture of all your 
circumstances. 

XCIX. 

Amsterdam, 30$ March, 1808. 

The golden rule of Leonardo da Vinci must now be our maxim 

in all things. In this way we can find peace if not personally exposed to 
the storm, and on this principle I am turning my time to account here, 
uncertain as our future is, as busily as if I were acquiring various branch- 
es of knowledge in accordance with a plan drawn up for my life. Our in- 
come has been considerably lessened by the general reduction of salaries ; 
but that is a small matter, about which I leave it to others to complain. 



176 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

for how long is our future secure in any sense ! But even this does not 
disquiet me. Has not a year already passed since the Emperor Alexander 
was in Memel ? Have we not got through this mournful year far more 
fortunately than many others ? Indeed to me it has been instructive and 
morally improving. It is now a great comfort to have got through a whole 
year, especially since time advances so slowly. And during this period 
we have been much favored by Providence ; Milly has completely recover- 
ed from an illness amidst the most dangerous circumstances ; we have 
been spared from the immediate perils of war j an accident saved us from 
participation in the misfortunes of Copenhagen ; we have been delivered 
from pestilence and from our dreary banishment ; have seen you once more 
and are now in safety in a land full of instruction. From all this I draw 
consolation for the future, and thankfulness, to God for my past life, 
which has perhaps in many ways been a better discipline for me than I 
have suspected. 

It is on your account that we feel the principal anxiety. I would give 
much to know that you were not in Kiel. Of all places Kiel is the most 
in danger. I can not rely upon the humanity of the English to spare the 
defenseless asylum of the noble Queen, and I have no confidence in the 
fortification of the coast. 

c. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Amsterdam, 18th May, 1808. 

Men differ widely from each other in their capacity for friendship 

— let me say for love. We shall not dispute the assertion of Empedocles, 
that friendship is always a power of attraction. But in many persons it 
is only a magnetic one, where the square of the distance, and the united 
power of several weaker magnets may, to a great extent, neutralize that 
of the single stronger one ; so that such friendships depend too much upon 
proximity; and when the friends, who have been unavoidably separated 
for a time, are restored to each other by fate, they find themselves at first 
much less powerfully attracted to each other than to those with whom 
they have had constant intercourse during the preceding interval, even 
though the attachment of the latter may not be such as will stand trial. 
There is another power, which operates equally through all spaces, like the 
emanation of light — a power to which distance and separation are as no- 
thing, because its seat is in that inward world which the mind, through 
her faculties of conception and imagination, creates out of and independent 
of the real and historical one. I thank you both that your reception of 
me, and our whole intercourse during the time we were together, proved 
that your affection for me is of this latter kind.* 

We will allow ourselves to indulge still brighter hopes from the intima- 
tions contained in Dora's last letter, and if my most earnest wishes on 
your behalf are but cries to an inexorable destiny, in Milly's more pious 
mind they are prayers. I can not express to you, how we love you both 
and your children, and yet I would fain do so in this time of sorrow, when 

* Here follow references to the illness of Moltke's son, and the health of his 
wife, who was already ill of the consumption that terminated her life a few 
months later. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 177 

love and faithfulness are the only consolation. "We have made our cove- 
nant together ; you admitted your disciple to the equality of friendship, at 
a time when with all my other friends there could only be attachment on 
my side, without any claims to an equal return of confidence or affection : 
believing only too firmly, before it had been proved, that although I had 
as yet no objective power, nothing but warmth, enthusiasm for all that I 
undertook, there lay within me capabilities for great works, of which I 
then possessed only an imperfect idea, and had conceived only a vague 
outline. From this condition of mind, there arose within me a mortal 
conflict between my belief in my future high vocation, coupled with the 
sense of my present weakness and imperfection, and my repugnance to 
take a standing beside or below finished mediocrity ; a conflict from which 
I have come out like a troop that has been surrounded, of whom a part 
hew their way through, while the greater number, and perhaps the bravest 
of them, perish upon the field. You gave me a place in your heart, not 
merely as believing that I might one day become all for which I had a 
capacity and a calling, but as if I were that already. And yet I have 
never been able to realize my aspirations, and have been obliged to replace 
the brave troops that have fallen with a sorry rabble ; instead of poetry, 
archaeology, and ancient history, I have had to cultivate finance, banking, 
administration — all of which, between ourselves, are (compared to my 
brave old comrades) a set of beggarly fellows, that sometimes almost drive 
me mad, especially when any thing reminds me strongly of all those whom 
I have lost. Sismondi's History has done this lately : I wrote forthwith 
to Stein, and hinted that I should like a mission to Italy, in order to com- 
pose a history of Rome (a continuation of Livy's, from the year 588 to 
625) amidst her ruins. But he wrote a very friendly letter back, to say 
that it was out of the question : that I must remain under the yoke. God 
grant only — how low we are sunk to make such a prayer — that I may 
long have it to bear ! Our prospects are very gloomy ; but who can not 
say the same ? As regards myself, my courage does not fail, though our 
personal interests also are seriously threatened. Milly has so fallen in 
love with Sismondi's Italian Republics, that she is making extracts from 
the book all day long. I admire him much, but all is not what it might 
be. The drawing is for the most part excellent, but the coloring often 
false. During my stay here I have busied myself with researches into the 
ancient races and institutions of northern Germany, and the study of the 
history of Holland. What a countless host of strong-minded and sound- 
hearted men, and how much greatness ! 

This, too, is not yet written. "While studying it, I often forget the pres- 
ent; but then comes a story of the carnage at Madrid, an image of the 
agonies of Prussia, a recollection of my ever -beloved Denmark, and all my 
dreams vanish ; I feel nothing but my misery. You have, I suppose, re- 
ceived a part at least of the journal of my travels, from Dora. It will, 
however, contain for you large barren steppes, and you must remember, in 
judging of it, that it was not written -for you, nor, in fact, strictly speak- 
ing, for Dora, though many of the letters are directed to her, so that much, 
even in these last, can have no interest to you or her. It is my father 
chiefly who will enjoy them, and he wanted something to cheer him up. 
Tbis object has been quite answered by them. Only one whose mind 
dwells entirely or principally within the limits of his daily life, could take 



178 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

pleasure at all times in such an unbroken description of the every-day 
world. I should have directed all my letters to him, but that Dora likes 
also to hear something of our every-day proceedings, and some other things 
were mixed up with them, and finally because it is a pleasure to me to 
write to her. You must take all this into account in reading them ; we 
are on a classical soil, but one that is so only in a single respect. You 
must learn Dutch in order to read the great Vondel, and for the sake of 
the country, and of freedom. Vondel is a genius of the first magnitude. 
The language is very easy to learn ; it cost me no tronble at all ; the pro- 
nunciation is the only difficulty, and in that I want practice, because every 
one speaks French. One word more. When I talk about the court, I do 
it for my father's sake. Do not misconstrue me; above all things do not 
believe that I am indeed at the grindstone where the depth is polished out 
of hearts, which have long since been worn smooth by the friction of the 
world. It is nothing of the kind. Do you know what, of all things, I 
stand most in need of here ? A Goethe, were it only his Faust : my cate- 
chism, the epitome of my convictions and feelings, for what is not con- 
tained in the existing fragment would be found in the complete work, were 
it written. A hundred times has the desire to complete it risen up within 
my mind, but my powers are not commensurate with my will. I only 
wish I had the Old Gentleman up here for a bit above ground ! He should 
have work enough to do, and I would win heaven in spite of him. Fare- 
well, my beloved ones, and give our love to your children, as if we were 
your brother and sister. Give best remembrances, too, to Philippina and. 
Falk from your Niebuhr. 

CI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Utrecht, May, 1808. 

I have heard nothing for this week past from Berlin, that is, from 

Stein. The fate of our poor country, therefore, is still undecided — a state 
of things which use alone can enable me to bear. that Denmark's po- 
sition were but more hopeful ! In Memel, Denmark was often a consola- 
tion to me, and a bright spot on which my weary eye could rest. But 
how can I bear to deepen your sadness ? You will know what it is to hear 
of, 1 believe only too many, things that formerly appeared to you to be ex- 
aggerations. What would I not give that you should have remained with- 
out this bitter experience ! People here have had their troubles ; they 
have lost much that can not be replaced, and have still heavy burdens to 
bear ; yet the war has scathed them but little. A citizen of this town 
complained to me that the soldiers quartered upon him in 1795, had cost 
him not less than 150 guilders. I laughed in his face. Milly asks me to 
leave a corner for her. Read for your refreshment Sismondi's History of 
the Italian Republics. Thanks for your letters of introduction; but what 
*an the natural philosophers have to say to me ? 

CIL 

Amsterdam, 17th June, 1808. 

Here, also, they talk of changing their king, as a man might talk 

*f changing his bailiff on his estate. This country could only lose by any 
«hange, and I should share the sorrow of the most intelligent men in such 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 179 

a case. The government is national and good, and the king only too humane 
and tender-hearted. A short time since, the signing of some criminal war- 
rants, where he found, after second examination, that a mitigation of the 
sentence was impossible, literally made him ill on the day of the execution. 

cm. 

1st July, 1808. 

I have not been well for some time, and have suffered much from 

sleeplessness. Often I lie awake till daylight. Yesterday I felt particu- 
larly unwell ; to-day I am much better. But will it last ? I have found 
my former experience irresistibly confirmed, that with me the body depends 
entirely on the mind, and that my indisposition almost always arises from 
some impediment to the free action of my mind, which seems to introduce 
disorder into all the functions of the bodily machine. When my mind is 
exerting itself freely and energetically upon a great subject, and I advance 
successfully from one point to another, displaying their mutual connection 
as I proceed, I either feel no physical inconveniences, or if they show them- 
selves, they disappear again very quickly. No man can have a more vivid 
perception, that creating is the true essence of life, than I have derived 
from my internal experience. But if I am altogether restricted to a passive 
state of mind, as is the case at present, the whole machine comes to a stop, 
and my inward discomfort brings on an unhealthy condition of body, of 
which I have an unmistakeble outward sign in the contrast between the 
free and strong circulation of the blood in the former state, and its irregu- 
larity in the latter. Now, if it stood in our power, when outward circum- 
stances are unfavorable to our activity in practical life, to choose at once a 
field of intellectual labor instead, and to transport our whole faculties into 
its sphere, this evil would be easily overcome ; and I have often thought 
that in this manner one might almost make oneself immortal. But, alas, 
how many hindrances stand in the way ! And how impossible this inde- 
pendence is rendered by the interruptions to our equanimity ! Above all 
is this the case when one is engaged in public business, which has to be 
carried on according to prescribed forms ; where one has only to execute, 
and can not work out an idea, but must bring every thing into conformity 
with established rules 

If you consider the charge of the physical well-being of the helpless 
an undignified employment,* I think you are mistaken ; and that you at- 
tach too much importance altogether to the intellectual part of our nature 
in the mass of mankind. I believe that on that subject we have a totally 
false view in these days, and though I do not think it can mislead you, I 
should prefer seeing you openly espouse a contrary view, as I do myself on 
the firmest conviction. Do you not agree with me, that the so-called edu- 
cation which we claim as indispensable for the people, whether it be of a 
high cast, and consisting of numerous branches of knowledge and modes 
of applying the understanding and talents, or restricted to the first rudi- 
ments, is only valuable in so far as it is a tme approximation to that free 
spiritual life, where the soul dwells in a world of ideas and notions, in 
which the world of sense is transmuted, and on which it becomes depend- 
ent ? That it is, therefore, absolutely worthless — indeed, rather injurious 

* He is here referring to a wish he bad expressed to see Madame Hensler at 
the head of one of the great charitable institutions of Holland. 



180 MEMOIR OF NLEBUHR. 

— - when it disturbs a man destined to every-day life, in his truthful, in- 
stinctive mode of perception and action within his own sphere, and only 
gives him in return notions taken at second-hand, and torn out of their 
natural connection? And that yet this is unavoidable with all teaching 
and cultivation which does not go very deep ? That, for instance, writing 
and reading, except for the purposes of business, are to the mass of the 
people superfluous even as a discipline for the memory, and a dangerous 
gift when they are used completely at random, as the common people use 
them so that they acquire only a multitude of distorted notions ; because, 
by this means, the common man is deprived of the truth his senses teach 
him, which nature has given him for his guidance, and becomes familiar- 
ized with another and distorted truth, which takes no firm hold on his mind, 
and yet robs him of the power of judging for himself ? But if it be a 
moral rather than an intellectual culture which you ask for, this can scarcely 
be effected with a multitude of orphan children taken in the mass, except 
by selecting individuals, and by keeping those who are only fit for the usual 
avocations of their class as simple as possible. And I need not ask you 
whether this simplicity, which preserves the outlines of good and evil in 
human nature clear and distinct, even though it can not choke the evil, be 
not better than the confused ideas of morality prevailing among the higher 
classes, which can not really elevate and make them free, and over which 
at last a varnish is spread. But it appears to me that pure, uncultivated 
nature can not dispense with the satisfaction of all her simple requirements, 
and that this satisfaction is the best security for the morals of the many, 
as its want is usually the main source of their degeneracy, except in those 
who seem utterly bad by nature. A highly cultivated man may dispense 
with many things voluntarily, because he lives in another world. Thus 
the charge of physical well-being appears to me as interesting in the cause 
of morality, as it is in that of humanity ; while, on the contrary, it is a 
characteristic of our age, that, amidst the ever-increasing misery of the 
lower classes, we are so earnestly busied in establishing schools for them ; 
not to speak of the absurdity of the popular works which we put into their 

hands 

CIV. 
TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Amsterdam, 27th August, 1808'. 

My beloved Moltke, what shall I say to you now that the blow has 
fallen on you, to which we all looked forward with trembling, despairing 
hearts, while we thought it as yet far distant? Can I, in written words, 
express to you our feelings, our grief on your account ? Let me rather 
appeal to your faith in us, that you may find a vent for your own sorrow 
in imaging to yourself the feelings of your distant friends. 

My poor, poor friend, where now, amid the wild tumults of the world, 
will you find a tranquil spot, in which your grief, raising you at last above 
the immediate pain of your loss, may restore to you the peace of mind you 
need for your own sake — for the sake of your children, of your friends ? 
Not in solitude can you regain tranquillity, for the ever-turning wheel of 
thought within us, which, in prosperity, we fancy obedient to our will, dis- 
turbs more than the outward world ; and the eye of a friend has more 
power than aught else to calm the heart. Come to us, as we can not yet 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 181 

come to you; unless this climate and place are too unhealthy for you. 
But we will come to you — I hope soon, and I hope not for a short time. 
And then we will strive together after courage to meet the destruction of 
all happiness, all hope, all joy. 

Milly's tender love for your Marie, which you so well know, will tell you 
how great was the blow to her, when she read in the newspaper the terri- 
ble announcement, which a letter from Dora had scarcely prepared us to 
expect. You know that she loved no one more deeply than Marie, and 
that no parting, among those fate has allotted to us, was bitterer than 
that from ier ; to live with her was ever Milly's highest wish. 

I understand why you have not written to us — you could not ; but now, 
write. I promise faithfully to answer you ; and am I not your nearest 
and dearest friend in the world, as you are mine ? I entreat you to write : 
we will not keep silence on your grief, either now, in absence, or when we 
meet again. You used to write once when I did not repay you for it. 

We will come to you ; we will not seek to comfort you, but to infuse 
serenity into your mind. Pray for serenity; strive after it. It is no sin, 
even in the deepest sorrow ; it is the necessary support to the soul on 
which heavy burdens are laid, without which they could not be borne to 
the journey's end. 

Milly embraces you with warmest love. And God strengthen and pre- 
serve you ! Your Niebuhr. 

cv. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Amsterdam, September, 1808. 

Your last letter, and indeed the one before it, are still unanswered ; they 
would not be so, but that my zeal in corresponding has sensibly declined ; 
and that the circular letters, which I continue in deference to my father's 
wishes, hinder me from writing others. No more of that ; but I must not 
conceal from you that we are — not myself alone, but the whole public of 
this city — living in a state of excitement which destroys all free exercise 
of thought with me, and keeps me in a positive fever. I know this state 
of mind from repeated experience, fear it, and yet can no more keep it off, 
than he can who has once been a desperate gamester, when he stands as 
a spectator by the green table, even though he may not touch a card him- 
self. And in this game, other things are at stake beside gold. Were it 
possible to shut ourselves up without becoming hypochondriacal, it would 
be better not to go into society oftener than once a fortnight, and then 
hear the purified residue of all the reports afloat within that time, than to 
hear them, as we do now, from their very commencement, to doubt them, 
examine them without data, and never know any thing with certainty, but 
the existence of the abyss into which we may all plunge, and to think with 
terror of our distant friends. 

Milly will tell you how we read in the paper the announcement of 
Marie's death, and that we had not expected it from your letter. Moltke 
has not written to me, or else his letter has miscarried. God help him ! 
His youthful vigor had been visibly affected by the vicissitudes of his early 
life, and by Augusta's death ; and the higher rose the flame of mingled 
feeling and imagination within him, the more it preyed upon that inward 
strength with which we must bear up against sorrow, if we are not to be 



182 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

overwhelmed by it ; and hence we can not but tremble for the effects of 
such a blow. that I were but free, and could go to him ! When we 
meet again let us all speak much of Marie. She had every perfection — 
brilliancy, purity, intellect, grace — and the fading away of her body had 
not affected the mind. She did not know what she was. No one could 
talk more beautifully, and no one was more unpretending. Even during 
her illness, when she spoke of things with a depth of insight beyond all 
other spectators of the same scenes, she always spoke in such a manner 
that the hearer could not help feeling that no one else could have said the 
same, and fearing to appear commonplace beside her, although the exqui- 
site beauty of her conversation raised all around her above their ordinary 
tone of thought. You, too, will feel much more desolate. 

Do not indulge brighter hopes for our future, because the Prussian terri- 
tory is partially evacuated. For it is not evacuation, though the troops 
may be drawn off. It is not impossible that the convention might be rati- 
fied now : but, as matters stand, we could not fulfill it, and therefore should 
only pronounce our own condemnation. The impossibility is so self-evi- 
dent, that I would rather touch red-hot iron than have any thing to do 
with the business. However, counsel comes with time : I mean for indi- 
viduals themselves 

CVI. 

Amsterdam, 13^ September, 1808. 

"We received your welcome letter on Saturday, together with one from 
Moltke, that was long past its time. What you tell me about his state 
of mind is a great comfort to me ; all and every thing. I hope that he will 
find tears, and then activity. It used to be very difficult to me to speak 
to him of his departed Augusta : now that his calamity is so great and 
so irreparable, I desire to talk of nothing else with him but of the dear 
friend whom we have just lost. Then, too, I was much younger, my at- 
tention was more easily diverted, and I shrank from the aspect of sorrow. 
Now, all private affliction is but a contribution to that which has pene- 
trated into the inmost corners of our land, and, under a thousand shapes, 
is gnawing at every heart. 

Probably at the same time you receive this letter, perhaps still earlier, 
you will see in the newspapers an article, which is, to a certain extent, a 
proscription of my friend Stein.* I have seen it this morning for the first 
time ; you may imagine with what feelings ! This is my reason for writing 
to you to-day, for it will not only grieve you, but also make you anxious 
on our account. But you may be perfectly easy. My connection with 
Stein involves nothing that could be in the slightest degree dangerous to 
me. But what the consequences may be to himself I tremble to hear. 
With his cast of mind, where a thousand ideas, often of the most opposite 
description, follow each other in rapid succession, this expression of his 

* Stein was already revolving plans for the future resurrection and deliver- 
ance of Germany. A letter addressed to Prince Wittgenstein on the position 
of affairs, containing the expression that the spirit of discontent with the French 
rigime must be kept up in Westphalia, was intercepted by the French authori- 
ties, and published in the journals. Stein instantly sent in his resignation, which 
was not, however, accepted by the King. Napoleon did not immediately insist 
on his removal, because he knew that his presence was necessary to the draw- 
ing of the stipulated money from Prussia, but waited his time to ruin him. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 183 

sentiments was any thing but a deliberate plan ; it was the effect of a fit 
of bitter feeling, which, if it had not been necessary to write the letter, 
and send off the dispatch just at that moment, would have given place to a 
completely different view before night. It is, however, very remarkable that 
both his sister, the Countess Werthern, and I, have entreated him, almost 
upon our knees, to have no dealings of any kind with certain individuals 
whom he believed to be honest, but calumniated men. That noble Ma- 
dame Von Werthern, who reads men's hearts with a glance, told me that 
when she saw those persons, she often felt as if the devil himself was 
standing before her. Stein rebuked her for it, and was once quite angry 
with me, when it happened that each of us, without any concert, warned ■ 
and conjured him not to have any thing to do with these people. I think 
I remember clearly that Madame Von Werthern once told me in so many 
words, that she had a presentiment that they would bring misfortune upon 
her brother. Is not the hand of destiny clearly discernible here ? Stein 
always goes headlong from the fullest confidence of hope to despair, and 
in his judgments of people he often neglects to confirm hi3 opinion, when 
once formed, by any observation of particular cases. But since his own 
integrity renders him much more inclined to judge favorably than to con- 
demn, he often gives to a rogue a place in his esteem, which an honorable 
man obtains but slowly and with difficulty, if he has no brilliant parts to 
recommend him. "Have you proofs against him?" he has asked me, 
when I have told him that so and so would act ill in the case in question : 
the result furnished the proofs, and too late. 

I believe, however, that the crisis is now very near, as to the approach 
of which we have long since ceased to deceive ourselves. A convention 
had been negotiated,* but was not as yet concluded. Will the thread 
break at once ? It certainly will break, sooner or later. If so, we shall 
come to you, and truly we shall not be sadder than we are now, and have 
long been. People may say what they please of the practical utility of 
history ; an intimate acquaintance with it is a sure preservation from being 
deluded into hope by many an ignis fatuus. 

Poor Koppe, who will get into trouble, is a harmless fellow, and has a 
wife and children. 

CVII. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Amsterdam, 30th September, 1808. 

The news that Perthes found you well, dearest Moltke — the only news 
we have received concerning you for a considerable time — has quieted our 
fears for your health. Suffer me now to implore you most earnestly to 
take care of yourself, for God's sake not to lose all interest in this life, 
which has still such sacred claims upon you. I ask from you no more 
than that you should seek, rather than avoid, the alleviations nature sends 
you — sleep, and the gradual transition of passionate into gentler grief; 
that you should, if possible, moderate the vehemence of your feelings, and, 
however much it may cost you, keep that memory which will never leave 
you, apart from the present reality, which will reward you more than most 
others, if you turn not from it. 

My dearest friend, fate gave you what you in your ardent, stormy youth, 
* In Paris, between Champagny and Prince William of Prussia. 



184 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

sought as your appropriate lot. Fate gave you more than falls to the 
share of most men — too much — since it would not leave you the possession 
of blessings, the enjoyment of which had made all others in life distasteful 
to you. You had every thing which your heart in the vague longings of 
youth could imagine, and you gave yourself up to this fullness of love — 
to the perfect earthly sphere in which all your thoughts found employment, 
undisturbed by the manifold perplexities which so often prevent those, 
whose lot it is to be driven hither and thither through a changeful and un- 
congenial life, from ever attaining a satisfactory consciousness of what 
fate has really done for them. I have seen you happier than I ever beheld 
any other human being, in the highest energy of your own nature, whose 
internal vigor had enabled it to withstand all the storms that might have 
devastated it ; your intellect enriched, your heart ennobled and matured 
through love and happiness ; when, as yet, you were untroubled by any fears 
for the life of your Augusta. I have seen you bent to the earth beneath the 
stroke that deprived you of your happiness ; I have seen you pass from youth 
to the firmness of matured manhood; and attaining, under the influence 
of your Marie's extraordinary harmony and completeness of character, an 
inward strength and peace, which neither you nor your friends could have 
hoped to see in you in so high a degree. Your youth is over, your joys are 
gone; nothing is left to you but a serene activity, for yourself, for your 
children, for and with your friends. But the children alone afford you so 
many joys, and promise far more for the future ; your own efforts and the 
affection of your friends will bring you so many hours — such as those we 
spent together in early days, before you had won your Augusta — that, had 
you not been*so surpassingly happy, your life would flow by, without, in- 
deed, satisfying you, yet still full of beauty. Altogether, when we com- 
pare the worth of his life, who, robbed of his dearest happiness, lives on to 
the end with a longing, glowing heart, which when fortune smiled on him, 
had raised him above this world, with the life of one whose heart has 
never thus bled, but has also never thus glowed, can we doubt whose lot 
has been the best, even if we look at it only on the side of enjoyment? 

If our future were not so utterly undecided, and if you could leave your 
estate under present circumstances (which, however, you must not do, on 
account of your children, at a time when land is the only property not in 
danger of complete annihilation), we would speak of the future, and make 
plans for living in the same place. But this is impossible for us at pres- 
ent ; we can not even plan definitely for a single week. I have given up 
all hope for Prussia, and we shall not live in Berlin ; this negative expect- 
ation is the only circumstance we can look forward to as even more prob- 
able than another. Some time ago we anticipated a violent end to the 
long death-struggle of our unhappy State, and we then decided to spend 
the winter with you ; now, the sickness has assumed another form, and it 
seems probable that I shall be forced to rend asunder the ties that unite 
me to the State, if I will not turn hangman, and go back to Berlin to take 
part in the horrible work of raising money by grinding extortions. And 
so we may very likely not only see each other in the course of the winter, 
but spend a considerable time together 

Farewell, my beloved friend, and be strong ; be at one with yourself, and 
think not too lightly of what is still left to you. There is an indescribable 
strength in resignation ; on that foundation you may build up your life se- 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 185 

curely. Do not waste your energies by striving to penetrate into the eter- 
nally hidden regions — nor by endeavoring to give eternity to this world. 
Eternity is more real than time ; let that suffice us ; the earth is too small 
for man ; and what we become conscious of in ourselves, is but the lowest 
part of our being ; and shall we lose ourselves in questionings about this 
part, which seems to us the whole ? Do not you act thus, but rather fix 
your mind on what yet remains to you, and among the rest on the affec- 
tion of your friend, who loves you with his whole heart. Our love to the 
children. Your faithful N. 

CVIII. 

Amsterdam, begun 22d December, 1808. 

Since I wrote the previous page, and, incapable of continuing, 

found myself obliged to lay down my paper, I have been constantly suffer- 
ing in my health, and yet could not make up my mind to send for a phy- 
sician. My constitution, and more especially the influence exercised on my 
body by my state of mind — which is always with me the true cause of 
health and sickness — are too unlike any thing to be found among the Dutch, 
for a physician, whose opinions and mode of treatment have been formed 
here, to be capable of taking a reasonable view of my case ; so rest, and a 
combination of mental and physical diet, must be my chief reliance. In 
fact, it seems to me, that the methods of treatment in the medical art 
(which would so gladly set itself up for a science) must be completely dif- 
ferent in different parts of the globe — just a6 civil institutions do, and 
must differ in different countries and nations. Thus, for example, the phy- 
sicians here may be perfectly right in adapting their general treatment to 
colds, indigestions, and hardy, full-blooded systems, without taking intel- 
lect or feeling much into consideration. But woe to the stranger with 
whom these preconceived anticipations are incorrect, and who falls into 
their hands ! In general, I do not like medical men ; they form the most 
arrogant and unprincipled of all classes, next to the nobles, and rival the 
priests (as they used to be, for they are now on quite a different road), and 
the political economists. And no wonder, for they, too, must have a con- 
sciousness of internal untruthfulness, from the contrast between their pre- 
tensions and what they really are, and they try to conceal this from them- 
selves by self-conceit. And just as it is very difficult for a statesman not 
to be corrupted by degrees, unless he is a thoroughly upright man, because 
the contemplation of the blunders that he often can not help making is all 
too painful, so the same takes place with the physician, who, besides, de- 
pends more than the statesman on reputation, and can not, like him, gloss 
over his mistakes. That this hatred toward the class does not extend to 
every individual is, of course, to be understood ; why, I even like and es- 
teem individuals among the nobility (of course, I am not speaking of you 
and such as you), among the priests, and the political economists. 

Thus I have tried another medicine, in the shape of some most select read- 
ing. I wanted a book that would rouse my imagination and my feelings. 
So I took up Mirabeau's " Essai sur le Despotisme." Do you still recol- 
lect lending it to me thirteen years ago ? I remember your copy perfectly, 
and your pencil marks on the margin, as well as the deep impression it 
made upon me. It is a sweet dream to call those times into life again ! 
When we are conscious of the difference in our way of reading the same 
thing at different and distant times, we obtain some help toward the pic- 



186 MEMOIR, OF NIEBUHR. 

ture of what we then were and now are. Formerly every thing seized hold 
of me with infinitely greater power ; but it remained in my mind too much 
as an undigested mass, and worked as such ; now I can discriminate and 
test more keenly. This eloquent book, however, stands my tests ; the more 
it is logically investigated, the less will it be accused of declamation. It 
shows quite convincingly that Mirabeau was perfectly free from the folly 
which afterward attacked every head like an epidemic — namely, the idea 
of binding freedom forever to a country by the forms of a constitution. He 
certainly knew the contrary to be true, and he can not have lost this convic- 
tion. Certainly, too, he is innocent of the horrid idea of universal represent- 
ation, out of which all the mischief has flowed, and which arose in a spirit 
of imitation that had taken possession of shallow minds, and so-called 
metaphysicians. For Necker had a shallow mind, but it was German 
shallowness, which, if it be adorned with outward showiness, wears an ap- 
pearance of practical solidity to the mass of Frenchmen. That Mirabeau 
afterward made use of this power is nothing to the purpose ; the great man 
can make use of every thing by subjecting it to himself. I should like, 
however, to be absolutely certain that he definitely rejected and contemned 
this folly. Who, after him, would care to say any thing concerning the 
degeneration of all branches of the executive power under a despotism? 
Despotism was the sickness which consumed the energies of Prussia ; Den- 
mark has long suffered under it ; but it would be a folly to take the trou- 
ble to describe the yellow fever after Thucydides, and since ages have not 
taught mankind to profit by his wisdom, it is at least quite superfluous 
now to delineate the particular symptoms of the disease. 

What inimitable sayings ! "L'animal que dechire le feroce leopard, ad- 
mire-t-il la garrure de sa peau ou la variete de ses ruses?" Set in the 
place of the first word, the subject, the equivalent term l'Allemand — and 
the deep truth of the saying is gone. The animal knows nothing beyond 
the impulse of natural feeling, and seeks no false consolation ; but our 
countrymen have no true feeling left; not even that of pain or enjoyment. 
And on this account, I can not conceive what is to become of us. Are we 
to be apes of apes ? I implore the mercy of Heaven to grant us a new 
revelation ; for salvation must come to man from without ; our own long- 
ings only prepare the way for it. 

Mirabeau was indeed a great sinner ; he was possessed by a devil, but 
he had a very great nature, and there is more joy in heaven over one such 
sinner, than over a hundred just men. He was too high above his nation, 
like Carnot, the only two great men of the revolution. His eloquence car- 
ried away the people, and they fancied that they admired him ; just as 
the loud noise of a full orchestra seizes hold of the common people, who 
would have remained perfectly indifferent to the music itself, performed on 
less noisy instruments. Such sinners excite a peculiar kind of veneration 
in me, though most truly they do not hold the highest place. There is 
something yet far higher, and over that we can only weep. Mirabeau 
says, "Si j'ai dit la verite, pourquoi ma vehemence, en l'exprimant, di- 
minuerait-elle de son prix?" Vehemence of expression is but brilliancy of 
coloring, and as this is no defect except when the colors are false, why 
must I find it so often assumed as a proof that I am wrong ? Is it true 
that he who reaches the goal must necessarily go beyond it, because there 
is a possibility of his doing so ? Is an act of atrocity, of injustice, of folly, 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 187 

annihilated because it excites me to passionate indignation ? Or must one 
even take the poor innocent thing under one's protection against its unjust 
accusers ? Here one learns to speak coldly, that is, in general, to hold 
one's peace ; for amidst the praiseworthy and excellent things to be seen 
here, the stranger feels at last oppressed by the care bestowed on mere out- 
ward life, and the utter incapacity for all elevating sentiments. Opinions 
here are but prejudices, and those on religion perfectly insupportable. Yet 
the people, as might be expected, are not really pious ; just as they have 
not been really republicans for many generations ; but the administration 
was free, and more than that would not have suited the nation 

CIX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Amsterdam, 12tk December, 1808. 

In the first place, 1 must thank you for all the affectionate friendly 
things in your letter, beginning with the advice to bear lightly disagreea- 
bles which can not be avoided. If you have strong shoulders, it is not 
difficult to bear — but if they have become weak ? Besides, you yourself 
would hot bear any thing of this kind lightly. You have many a time 
borne with folly patiently. I can do so too, and do it conscientiously 
where a few good qualities make amends ; what now annoys me is some- 
thing different. 

It must be a strange sort of fellow, a true Margites — neither 

digger nor plowman, nor acquainted with any thing in the world — from 
whom I could not gain something in a tete-a-tete conversation ; on the con- 
trary, I think I surpass most in this art, and hence form so many friend- 
ships when in a foreign country, because men of almost every class and 
calling find that they can exchange something with me. But when such 
a man turns up. and is fastened upon one, so that it is impossible to get 
rid of him — a thoroughly worthless man — how can one help feeling dis- 
gust toward him, however much reflection he may give rise to. And re- 
flection, properly speaking, is not my forte : what I perceive, I see with a 
glance ; and it is not till I have reached my aim (where, indeed, I can not 
fail to do so) that I am able to connect my new point of view with the 
old one. But on this very account, I am far less able to choose my own 
course, than the man whose mental progress is the result of deliberation ; 
my powers, whatever they are, and whenever they are present, depend on 
an external talisman like Samson's strength. On Faith, in the general 
as well as the special sense, I would gladly write to you, as I can not talk 
with you, if a hypochondriac could write a letter equivalent to a book. 
Your Faculty of Divination I would not concede to you, except as it might 
be a kind of poetiy, which is certainly something very high. But Knowl- 
edge and Faith are widely different, and both are founded, as it seems to 
me, on Perception. A third faculty of a quite peculiar kind (and for which 
we have no word), is the recognition of the incomprehensible — of the im- 
possibility of what is, according to our ideas, most certain, which we meet 
with, for example, in all natural circles. What I mean will probably not 
be made clear to you by this awkward expression ; it is something, the 
admission of which, and the constant reference to it, distinguish the seer 
in nature from the ordinary learned man — something, of which Dolomieu, 
for example, had a strong feeling, and which must some day throw a new 



188 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

light on all our sciences. Imagination — as the word is commonly used — 
will be our guide least of all here ; more may be gained from the steady 
gaze, by which we may at last even obtain a glimpse into the regions of 
knowledge. To me, faith without testimony is impossible. But as far as 
faith in all personal relations of life is concerned, I believe, by all that is 
holy ! in all that I see to be beautiful, noble, glorious — unalterably and 
forever ! To these belong sympathy, kindness, and self-sacrifice, when the 
latter forms an abiding trait of the character. But I believe only in the 
very rarest instances in an unalterable feeling of interest in a person, or 
subject ; for such interest is in its causes and in itself a variable quantity, 
and may change its direction without any change taking place in the char- 
acter. Yet I know that I myself possess this kind of constancy — which 
is no merit in me. 

Stein's evil genius has blinded his eyes, and led him on from one false 
step to another ; whether it be, as some say, that he, the unsuspicious, has 
been entangled in a net of artifice, or, that want of deliberation, and a re- 
solve to break through his bonds, careless of consequences, have led him to 
the very point to which his enemies wished to allure him. In times of 
good fortune, it is indeed easy to appear great — nay, even really to act 
greatly — but in misfortune, very difficult. The greatest man will commit 
blunders in misfortune, because the want of proportion between his means 
and his ends progressively increases, and his inward strength is exhausted 
in fruitless efforts 

ex. 

Amsterdam, 10th January, 1809. 

Yesterday I saw Stein's proscription in a Dutch newspaper.* I was 
quite unprepared for it, as you will have been, and you can fancy the 
grief and consternation that seized me. But it is a time in which one 
must lock up one's sorrow within one's own breast, especially in my posi- 
tion, and as far as letters are concerned. I am waiting with a beating 
heart for to-day's papers, which will perhaps already confirm our worst 
fears. It is so evident that his evil genius has driven him forward to his 
fate, that I dare not hope that any effort will be made at Berlin to save 
him. 

I repeat for your relief the assurance that Stein has never writ- 
ten me a word by which I could be compromised ; and you will the more 
readily believe that I have never written any thing which could even be 
construed into an expression of sentiments similar to those which caused 
his ruin, since we conversed together last winter about the position of 
Germany, and I told you, as I told every one, how indignant I felt at the 
senseless prating of those who talked of desperate resolves, as of a tragedy. 
Ever since the Peace of Tilsit, my maxims have been those which Phocion 
preached to the Athenians of his age, and nowhere have I seen among the 
declaimers on the other side, a Demosthenes, or even a Hyperides, but 
many a Discus. To bear our fate with dignity and wisdom, that the yoke 
might be lightened, was my doctrine, and I supported it with the advice 
of the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke and acted very wisely, living, as he 
did, under King Zedekiah, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, though he 

The sentence of outlawry against Stein was signed by Napoleon at Madrid 
16th December, 1808, but did not reach Berlin till early in January, 1809. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE 189 

would have given different counsel had he lived under Judas Maccabseus, 
in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes : " Seek the peace of the city whither 
I have caused you to be carried away captives ; for in the peace thereof 
shall ye have peace." 

CXI. 
TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Amsterdam, loth January, 1809. 

You can imagine how the thought of Stein's proscription tortures 

me, by raising imaginations which I can neither follow out nor banish 
from my mind. A faint hope that it may not come to the worst comforts 
me at times, and encourages me to dismiss the most frightful pictures that 
present themselves ; it would not be the first time that the terror of a 
sentence of condemnation had been deemed a sufficient punishment. I 
will form no conjectures on a question which events will have decided be- 
fore you read this. It is as if there had been a demon at work, leading 
him on from one delusion to another, now blinding him by hope, now by 
despair, now by over-security, now by misplaced confidence, till he was 
brought to the edge of the precipice ; and his previous course terrifies me 
above all, by inspiring the fear that he will plunge into the lowest depths 
of the abyss before him. I shall never deny him, and never forget him, 
though he has become estranged from me of late, and has often acted 
under the influence of a spirit that grieved me, and almost drove me to 
despair. It was his misfortune that I was separated from him, and this 

conviction makes me sadder still I loved him for his fiery spirit, 

his rough cordiality, his integrity, his contempt of shams, his clear under- 
standing, the extent of his knowledge, his real enthusiasm, and his pene- 
trating glance ; his sharp angles did not hurt me, and his weak points 
were partially vailed, though not so closely, but that I often suspected 
them, and sometimes recognized them with dismay. Such as they were, 
however (I saw them first and very early, in his unaccountable bestowal 
of confidence on unworthy persons), they rather affected the minister than 
the man ; had we worked together in ordinary times, they would have had 
no injurious consequences in the business I had to transact, and my con- 
nection with him would have heen a bright spot in my life. He was 
never reserved, never enigmatical ; he did not receive expressions of warm 
attachment as a due homage, but welcomed them ; he returned them fully, 
and valued them highly. He seized the whole character at a grasp, and 
did not pick out this, and that, and the other quality in a man, in order 
to determine their value and weigh them against others. I shall never 
forget with what reluctance he took leave of me in Memel : he called me 
back time after time, said I must not go yet, and after all, we did not sup- 
pose it a final parting. At that parting we were truly friends, as truly as 
persons can become so after their first youth ; the unions we form then 
are indeed of a different character from any of later years. He also wrote 
me very affectionate letters afterward. When he came to Berlin, in the 
spring, their tone altered ; he seemed already to he under foreign influences, 
his views became distorted ; I wrote fiery words in reply, and his old affec- 
tion came forth again from its disguise. But the length of our separation 
may have weakened it — or was it the influence that seems to have taken 
possession of him at that time ? Since the spring his letters lost their 



190 MEMOIJt OF NlEBUHfl,. 

former tone of familiarity ; we retained our business connection with each 
other, and who knows but that the former ties might have been restored 
if we had been brought together again ? For some mysterious change 
must have taken place in him during the interval. You know that his 
successor* and I became good friends while we were colleagues. His 
character is amiable and very upright ; he possesses a feeling heart, more 
sentiment than passion, an unequal amount of knowledge on many ques- 
tions, which will hardly admit of being treated separately, too much of 
the routine of a system, scarcely that penetrating eye, by which a states- 
man ought to be able to take in all the outward bearings, and inward im- 
port of a question with a glance ; but the best choice that could be made, 
and one in which I should rejoice under less hopeless circumstances ; 
though his systematizing, and his slow way of going through every step 
in a chain of reasoning, often hinder the dispatch of business. However, 
this will not be of any consequence to me now, as, on many accounts, my 
retirement from public affairs is rendered desirable, indeed almost neces- 
sary. I must at once take measures to prevent injury to my reputation 
from the ill-success of plans which I know to be impracticable ; and I 
really can not place myself in the dilemma, of either undertaking a re- 
sponsibility in the guidance of affairs under such hopeless circumstances, 
or finding myself a mere nullity, or unavailing unit amidst opposing voices 
of equal weight ; consequently I must retire. It is no unimportant step : 
I feel all that it involves ; but even if the end of our State is not so near 
that, whether a little sooner or later, it will be reduced to its former atti- 
tude at Konigsberg, perhaps in a still worse place, I assure you it would 
go hard with me to eat my daily bread in security, as a not absolutely 
necessary servant of the State, while the country is in such misery. It 
seems that many would be pleased at my retirement, for intrigues and 
cabals are not less rife or less malignant, when a state is sunk to the 
lowest point of degradation. Massenbach's account of Prince Hohenlohe's 
joy at being named general-in-chief of a disorganized army, that was 
visibly hastening within a few days to complete destruction, is extremely 
striking and remarkable. — Altenstein, and probably the King, are perhaps 
the only ones who would see me depart with regret. Altenstein has less 
rigid principles with regard to the payment of public servants, than I, who 
have a more republican belief in the obligation to serve, if we can be of 
use ; my invincible feelings seem to him over-scrupulousness ; however, I 
do not know how he will reconcile his pressing invitations to me to return, 
with the organization of the new government, which seems to have been 
formed without any reference to me. D. appears to know more altogether 
about the cabals against me than I myself, who can only have a presenti- 
ment of them ; he will probably have told you a good many things too. 

And here have I been saying not a little upon subjects to which I only 
meant to allude 

Through the circulating library, which is our great resource here, my 
attention has been accidentally turned once more to French literature, which 
we foreigners may well take under our protection, since it is now the fashion 
among the French themselves to decry their own literature, with the excep- 
tion of the poets of the age of Louis XIV., as the production of hell. Mas- 
sillon's " Petit Careme," the sublimity and splendor of which you know, 
* Altenstein. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 191 

(and if you do not know this book, you must read yourself, and may read 
most of it to Charles, and recommend it to Dora,) induced me to read his 
" Histoire de la Minorite de Louis XV. ;" a book which, in my opinion, is 
not only the best historical work in the French literature, but is not inferior 
to any in any other modern language, and maybe compared to the ancients. 
The grace of the style is inimitable ; the descriptions} are speaking truth ; 
the proportion in the distribution of parts harmonious ; the apothegms full 
of deep significance ; and the verdicts passed, those of a great statesman. 
The judgment which the Bishop of Clermont pronounces upon subjects of 
finance, might put to shame nearly all the ministers who have no other 
vocation : but that is the true test of a great man, that from his eminence 
he can survey all fields. The whole work displays a spirit of elevated 
purity, the real human sentiments which animate his sermons also, his 
classical cast of thought, and the truthfulness of a man who is at one with 
himself — his freedom from all bonds of class and opinion, strong as was hia 
own faith, his love of liberty, his correct appreciation of the duties of this- 
world ; — finally, it breathes throughout, the exquisitely beautiful spirit of 
the "Petit Careme ;" — the spirit, which in his Orations, gave rise to that 
delineation of the times of Louis XIV., which must have made his hearers* 
tremble, as the great man, scarcely guessing their feelings, poured forth his 
own soul. This description is annexed to the "Histoire." I am certain 
that, if you ever read it, it was so long ago that your memory can tell you 
little about it. Take this golden book in hand, beg Dora to read it also, 
and place it among your books, not beside the writers of his own nation — 
except perhaps Diderot and Montesquieu — but beside Thucydides and 
Sallust : if you have it not, lose no time in procuring it. The discovery of 
euch ft pearl gives me a day of delight, and you need such days. But do 
not speak of it to those of your order ; Massillon was no friend to that ; on 
the contrary, he abhorred it. The noble who can not bear this, had better 

not attempt to read him 

This autumn I have read Schiller's " History of the Thirty Years' War," 
and, time after time, I have raised my hands in astonishment, not in ad- 
miration of the work, by no means ! but in wonder at the possibility 
that a book like this, which is not even tolerably well-written, and in which 
the narrative never flows smoothly on, but is ever halting and stumbling, 
should be allowed to rank as a classical work. Time will assuredly do 
justice to it, and allow the thing to sink into oblivion 

CXII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Amsterdam, February 26tk, 1809. 
I have made a very interesting acquaintance in Valckenaer,* 



* Valckenaer was the son of the celebrated philologist. His literary fame, 
and still more his opposition to the Orange party, procured him the professor- 
ship of Jurisprudence in Utrecht, in 1787. He was one of the deputation who 
went to Paris to request the assistance of the Convention, in 1795. He remained 
in connection with the government up to the resignation of King Louis, when 
he also retired from public life. It is somewhat remarkable, that Niebuhr should 
have formed so close a friendship with a man so completely identified with the 
principles of the Revolution. They continued to correspond after Niebuhr left 
Holland, and a series of his letters to Valckenaer are still in existence, which 
his friends have made many efforts to procure, but hitherto without success. 



192 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

who was formerly embassador from Holland to Spain. He is a Frisian, a 
man of uncommon intellect, and possessing a vivacity, and a power of 
taking interest in a wide circle of subjects, which are. very unusual here. 
From his father he inherits noble philological attainments, and it is the 
first time, at least for many years, that I have met with an intellectual 
man conversant with ancient literature ; as familiarly acquainted with 
Rome and the classics, as, for instance, we Germans, or other nations pos- 
sessing a literature, are with their own literature and history, and with 
whom I could converse on a footing of equality. For all the other more 
eminent philologists I have known, assume an abominable air of initiation 
which I by no means concede to them. Valckenaer has moved about in the 
world a great deal, and has another key to the meaning of ancient authors 
besides grammar, and looks, too, for other things in them besides antiquities 
and words. Our views are very much alike. He has been a man of much 
ambition and violent passions, and his life has been full of storms. In his 
house lives an old poet, also a Frisian, named Van Kooten, who has written 
charming Latin poems, an achievement, the value of which we must not 
underrate, when the rare case occurs, that a poetical genius has so com- 
pletely mastered one of the ancient languages, as to use it with perfect 
freedom. In such a case it is not mere sport nor affectation, and if a poet, 
as must happen if he is born in Holland, finds himself forced to choose 
between a thoroughly plebeian idiom — possessing, however, forms and rules 
of poetry, which he can not break through without losing the tone, to which 
he and all his nation have been accustomed from childhood — and an ancient 
language and forms of poetry, which are indeed absolutely inviolable, and 
therefore true fetters, but were created by the most exquisite sense of 
beauty — he will do best service to his genius, I think, by choosing the lat- 
ter and more difficult course. There still exist a good many composers of 
Latin verses here, and one passes for a great poet ; Van Kooten is, however, 
the only real poet among them. We Germans are happily not limited to 
such a choice 

CXIII. 

MELDORF, 4th May, 1809. 

We have found all our friends here pretty well. My father is not 

much altered, a little paler, much blinder, and it seems as if his blindness 
had led him to indulge in melancholy reveries in his hours of solitude, which 
have impaired his cheerfulness. This disposition to groundless anxiety he 
had indeed before ; it relates principally to the imprudent manner in which 
his property has been frittered away, about which we strive to set him at 
rest. It is touching to hear his unjust reproaches of himself, for having 
neglected different objects in his travels. Thus are we always most apt to 
censure ourselves, for not having accomplished to the uttermost what lay 
before our hands, and was the easiest part of our work ; while we overlook 
our neglect of what was more important, but what we had to find out for 
ourselves. I have always regretted for him, and still regret, that on his 
return with such an abundant store of observations and discoveries, the 
worth of which could scarcely have been affected by a few facts more or 
less, he closed his active life, and did not rather, when equipped with all 
this knowledge, undertake some learned work. Hence it is, that his spirit 
has long languished under a sense of indigence, like a man who has given 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 13? 

away a fortune, earned with hard labor under a conjunction of circum- 
stances that can not again arise. He does not guess the cause of his inward 
dissatisfaction ; he never did. And woe be to him who should open his 
eyes to it ! 

On our journey we found papers, which heightened the painful anticipa- 
tions with which we had left Niitschau, by the depressing intelligence they 
contained. Since we have been here, we received along with more recent 
papers, a letter from our obliging friend, containing the inclosed :* — 

The events that have come to pass grieve me deeply, and almost destroy 
all my hopes. Even if the news of Hiller's victoryf be confirmed, that will 
do little toward retrieving our affairs, for I can hardly believe the possibility 
of a junction being effected between him and the Grand Duke, if the latter 
has really crossed the Danube, which he must have done at Ratisbon. 
After the faults that have been already committed, we can scarcely look 
for great results, even if this better contingency prove to be the real state 
of the case. On the other hand, very great misfortunes are possible, if the 
contrary be true ; although it is evident that the organization of the army 
has been much improved, and probable that the courage and energy of the 
Austrians answer to the manifestations of their government, and that these 
last are really, what they always ought to be, the fruit, and the faithful 
mirror of their internal sentiments. 

Victory was evidently so near ! And then all had been saved ! Then 
should we have entered on a life which we should not have dragged along 
as a weary burden. But armies are still intrusted to boys because they 
are the sons of princes; divisions to generals who have outlived captivity; 
and he who feels in himself that he could counsel and lead, remains in the 
background, not only because of a thousand miserable considerations, but 
because the hour of dissolution is not yet come in which he would press 
forward I I have, as you will see, guessed the whole of his plan at a hun- 
dred leagues distance ; that those, who were immediately opposed to him, 
have not done so is plain 

Read in Gibbon the history of Majorian ; behold a man who surpassed 
in virtue all the emperors that had sat on the throne of Rome, who yield- 
ed to none in talent and valor, who still had at his command a powerful 
army, small only when compared to that of former times ; see how he 
not merely understood the art of government, how he perceived that he 
could only help the nation by granting them a due measure of freedom ; 
but even if he had not died early, and under suspicious circumstances, he 
could have availed nothing against the influences of his age, and for him 
individually death was a blessing — the highest blessing. He died in the 
enjoyment of a delusive hope in the possibilities of the future * 

CXIV. 

Meldorf, lith, May, 1809. 

A strong desire to relieve my bitter grief and comfortless affliction, by 
freely pouring forth my feelings to you, has, day after day, been forced to 
yield to the pressure of engagements which assail us on every side 

I am constantly asking myself here, whether we are really living in the 

* This inclosure contained an account of the occurrences of the war from the 
19th to the 24th April, at Ratisbon, &c. 
t Over the Bavarians, under Wrede, at St. Verti, April 24th. 
I 



19 4 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHIL 

same age of the world that we did formerly, when we calmly reckoned 
beforehand on the future, or built castles in the air; or whether all before 
us is not, as it seems to our eyes, Chaoa and Night — a universal destruc- 
tion of all that now exists ? 

My old father never comprehends, nor dreams, that my outward circum- 
stances are a house of cards. He comforts himself with the idea that we 
shall want for nothing ! For his own sake, I try to prepare him for the 
contrary, but whenever it comes, it will be a terrible surprise to him 

Schill's desperate step will, I fear, quite decide the fate of Prussia. It 
is only a legitimate consequence, and the last for which I would blame the 
Emperor. For he will say to us : "Either you gave your consent to it, or 
you did not ; if you did, you are my enemies ; if you did not, you are no 
longer a State, because you can no longer control your own subjects." 

Is Schill an adventurer, or a great man? In any case he is a fortunate 
man, even if he fall. It is the first new and unheard-of thing that has 
been done for many years. The dissolution of all civil bonds and institu- 
tions is completed : now must begin either universal death and putrefaction, 
or the heavings of a new life. But where are its germs ? 

Which excites our indignation the most : he who applauds the desperate 
man as he would a rope-dancer, because the spectacle amuses him ; or he 
who chides him for his recklessness ? 

I can not, in common prudence, set off for Berlin now. Napoleon is 
probably already in Vienna. Do you not love the Tyrolese ? Their lead- 
ers are plebeians. 

cxv. 

NUTSCHAU, 25tk July, 1809. 

The faculty of simple endurance, mere passivity under the press- 
ure of a heavy calamity, this beautiful and noble power, to the practice and 
development of which you exhort me, is unfortunately more foreign to my 
disposition, than almost any other kind of power that can be nourished and 
strengthened by exercise. But be assured that I shall go forward toward 
the future, not only undaunted, but for the present consoled : even should 
we be summoned to Konigsberg before the consequences of this mischance 
have had time to develop themselves. 

Moltke became still more unwell in Hamburgh, and came on here before 
us very much indisposed. To-day, thank God, he is beginning to improve. 

We are not yet properly settled down here. I will tell you in my next 
how I get on with my studies, toward which I feel a strong desire attract- 
ing me, but which are now rendered difficult from long disuse. 

I have no inclination to say much to you about the dreadful decision uf 
this great judgment-day of the world. You know as much about it as I 
do, and our sentiments are the same.* The sacrifice of the Tyrol drove me 
to despair ; but I was ready to believe it at the first report, it was so ex- 
actly like him, so completely in accordance with his system of dragging his 
victims through the dirt, and making them as contemptible as possible ; 
just as the boa constrictor covers his prey with his slime, to swallow it 
with the greater ease. But it is a hard task to learn how to live quite 
without hope ; almost harder still to see the hopes that had revived, crushed 

This letter would refer to the armistice of Znaym, concluded between the 
Archduke Charles and Napoleon, on the 12th of July. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 195 

to the earth again. Gallicia, even Terrol and Corunna, were evacuated. 
Romana had a well-disciplined army of 30,000 men. The armies in 
Estremadura were united ; that from Sicily had most likely already landed 
in Catalonia, the great expedition to Bayonne or Biscaya was decided on. 
So completely did salvation hang on the turn of a straw ! This is the time 
when the elect are proved; he who has endured to the end will have a 
bright evening to his life. But for the present — happy are those who have 
never withdrawn themselves too far from the calling and work, which can 
now be to the individual his only consolation ! Such feel many things 
much less acutely than he who has irrevocably bound up his own destiny 
with political life. Happy, too, are they who have early resigned them- 
selves to trouble ; and, like you, have learnt in other ways and former 
times, to bear the yoke and cross. 

In other respects I have no cause for complaint. The last blow has not 
greatly affected my health, my hopes hung on such a slender thread. The 
thought of the wounded — of the inhabitants trampled under foot by their 
conquerors— of the Tyrolese — is more than the heart can bear. And the 
aspect of the future for all of us, who are now parted, and shall soon be 
still more widely separated from each other, is indeed very grave. 

It is very beautiful here at this season ; but it is the first time that we 
have been here without you, and how we miss Marie ! 

CXVI. 

Nutschau, 3d August, 1809. 

You will be anxious to hear from us. The pressing necessity for rest 
and recreation, which you have too often traced in my looks, may assure 
you that Moltke's society, the quiet of this place, and the pure country air, 
would do me good. Many a chord that has been vibrating with sharp and 
yet sharper pain for years, till its power of endurance was exhausted, rests 
and slumbers here, where there is neither the fever of constant rumors and 
news, nor the consuming passions of intercourse with the great world to 
torment me. I succeed in the attempt to keep myself from the contempla- 
tion of things for which there is no consolation, and even from thinking 
seriously about our own fate, while I withdraw my thoughts from the more 
remote present, into the narrower circle of the present that surrounds me 
at this moment. I succeed in reawaking many interests that had long 
lain dormant, many of my half-forgotten ideas ; and the fresh breezy air, 
the corn-fields, the woods, the meadows, infuse something of their life into 
me. Though I am still frequently unwell, seldom in good spirits, I yet feel 
that I am much better here in the open air, than I should be in a town, and 
that a return of health and enjoyment is not impossible. 

However, I fancy that for the present I shall only attain to a negatively 
better state, which is certainly in comparison, a real good, but is far from 
being all that is wanted, and will, I fear, scarcely long outlive the external 
repose which has produced it. I have hardly as yet attained, even for 
single moments, to that free creative meditation on voluntarily chosen 
topics, lighted up by the glow of imagination, in which alone I can possess 
the full measure, and enjoy the satisfaction of all my faculties. Is it that 
I strive after an element which is not natural to me ? The instinct that 
impels me toward it, can scarcely be an illusion ; I should surely find 



196 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

satisfaction in a lower sphere, if that were my appointed place. But my 
wings are clipped, my limbs are become stiff for want of use, my mental 
habits have grown rigid, my will refuses to act, is awkward or heedless, 
while my accustomed mode of life impels the course of my thoughts in an 
opposite direction. 

You will find it pardonable, though not conducive to the attainment of 
my objects, that the pile of books upon my table is continually increasing. 
For I have been too long denied the great enjoyment of a library, not to 
feel manifold temptations to revel in it now ; and this, too, has in some 
respects its advantages. Only in this way, by striking a hundred chords 
that have lain silent for years, will my memory revive again, and without 
this revival, many things would before long have been irrecoverably lost to 
me, which have now so faint an existence in my mind, that I am unable 
to call them up by a simple effort of the will. I even find it necessary to 
learn afresh by practice how to read and investigate on learned subjects, 
and this is the best way in which I can accumulate materials, if I should 
ever be so fortunate as to produce any thing. 

I have been collecting contributions to the subject of my old studies, 
from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and pursuing the track of proof for my 
conviction, that in very early times a mutual acquaintance and traffic 
subsisted between Rome and Greece : he has also given me some helps 
toward a survey of the primitive races of western Europe. I have like- 
wise read, with great admiration and respect (and are not these feelings 
among our most invigorating enjoyments ?) some of Mirabeau's papers on 
finance, which I had long been seeking in vain to procure. They have 
reminded me of some of the faults I have myself committed, which I long 
since recognized, and might have avoided, had I been earlier acquainted 
with his doctrines ; but not less of the egregious blunders of others, before 
whose eyes this light was kindled, when they ought to have been mature 
enough to have profited by it, and whose infatuation was such that they 
chose rather to grope in darkness ! And this, then, is the vaunted or 
imagined use of even great writers ! His fatherland was deaf to him, and 
plunged into the abyss, which he had pointed out with a cry of terror, and 
the warning of example as well as of truth was lost on other rulers ! 

I am reading the very remarkable physico-philosophical writings of 
Baader, which are pervaded by a spirit of the wildest mysticism, and in 
general are undoubtedly as mischievous as they are effete, by reason of 
their obscurity. For indubitable as it must be to any one, who can not 
satisfy himself with definitions and explanations, which are nothing better 
than reasoning in a circle, that there exists a wisdom and a truth above 
the sphere of our sciences, a wisdom and truth which bear the same rela- 
tion to them as the living creature does to its delineation, yet we are none 
the less incapable of divining truth without these sciences ; and the trans- 
ient forecastings and glimpses, which present themselves to us at times, 
have their truth and deeper significance only in and through the steady, 
intelligent keeping in view of the boundaries of science ; apart from science 
they become day-dreams and castles in the air. To excite an interest in 
these presentiments before the need of them is felt, or the capacity of call- 
ing them up exists, is a dangerous gift, and it were to be wished that such 
views should be revealed in mysteries to the initiated, and to none besides. 
Just as with views regarding freedom and civil institutions, where the 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 197 

best is remote indeed from the actual, and yet it does not follow that the 
Jatter is altogether inadmissible for the time being, or that the former is 
capable of being put in practice. Nevertheless, I recommend these trea- 
tises to you, that is, all those which do not form part of the system of 
natural philosophy, which appears to me, to say the least, extremely ad- 
venturous and dizzy; particularly all respecting subjects whose elucidation 
can be assisted hy profound meditation, elevation of feeling, searching 
observation, and a pure and warm heart ; for all these my mystic possesses. 
I read Horace also daily ; he is my constant companion, and dearer to me 
than ever 

CXVII. 

Hamburgh, Q9tk August, 1809. 

On the opposite side I wrote you, in the first glow of my feelings, the 
details of intelligence that will not leave you unmoved, for it relates 
deeds to which our age was a stranger, and a result which, up to this 
time, had been denied to the noblest enterprises.* 

Whether this ray of light will reach germs which only awaited warmth 
to burst forth into life, is another question. For my own part, I begin to 
cherish the encouraging belief that many hearts have grown purer and 
stronger, through danger and suffering, and that on all sides there lives a 
spirit, though straitened and repressed, whose power must increase, and 
produce something far better than that dull, comfortable existence, which 
B. describes as the golden age of thirty years ago. It was from the insuf- 
ficiency of this, that the aimless striving after something beyond arose, 
which, combined with the universal effeminacy, led to the miserable re- 
sults which he describes as constituting our later condition, and which we 
have all experienced. If God would take pity on us, I almost believe we 
might, though with bitter grief and pain, attain to something much better 
than that former state. We are indeed standing at the parting of two 
roads, where the most probable among the many possible contingencies is 
that we shall have to endure the double sorrow of seeing this flame, which 
has been secretly growing more and more intense, extinguished by oppres- 
sion. Much indeed would still remain to us in the very consciousness of 
our loss, and in this instance I entreat you not to listen to the voice of 
your heart, but to strive against that tendency of your mind to analysis, 
in which you have more than once sought consolation, when we have 
been conversing about the misery of our times, present and future. The 
value of every earthly good and happiness may indeed be explained away 
hy reasoning, just because what makes it good and lovely is not a thing 
"belonging to the region of ideas, and can not be founded on ideas alone ; 
but unless you can completely transfer yourself into Klinger'st cold intel- 
lect, it seems to me, that even in the clearest mind this must introduce a 
false state of feeling, which may indeed suffice for present comfort, but is 

* The successes of the Tyrolese, who had in July succeeded in completely 
establishing their independence, and were at this time governed by the peasant 
Hofer. 

t A poet of the last and present century. In his earlier productions the pas- 
sions reign supreme ; in later years a kind of reaction took place, and he placed 
stern decision of character and moral energy above all things. The struggles 
and difficulties of his own life had imparted, moreover, a degree of bitterness to 
his judgment of others and of the world in general. 



198 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

not good in itself. Forgive me this warning ! It is the only one which I 
think you may need, on account of your propensity to solve every thing by 
reasoning. Perhaps, too, I warn you because I envy you this faculty, 
though I would not wish to make use of it. 

In this case, I would fain see you become the advocate among your 
friends of that which as yet scarcely begins to stir in the bosom of night, 
but whose existence is certain, for they are far too much inclined to look 
for and to see salvation in the dead remains of the past. Let them not 
(I refer particularly to L. Stolberg) regard what still exists on the surface 
of things, and is the tottering wreck of an age gone by, as the only pos- 
session left to us. Let them reflect that it is not the Known, in what 
remains, that can profit us ; that this is every where simply injurious ; but 
the hidden things which must be brought to light, and are here and there 
forcibly breaking their way ; that a single spontaneous stirring is worth 
more than a thousand oscillating movements of worn-out and decrepit 
forms. Who could have dreamed that we should see the days of Morgar- 
ten and Naefel once more ? Who can deny that the Tyrolese have stepped 
from childhood into manhood since 1790-7-9, 1800, 1805? Who can 
doubt that the spirit of the Spaniards, the martyr-spirit of the Holy Father, 
his anathema pronounced at the high altar in the midst of the French 
soldiery, have elevated the hearts of the Tyrolese ; that their example will 
react upon the Spaniards, teaching them to disregard the prejudices of 
birth, and rewarding them for their sufferings ? For they can not but 
feel that they themselves have sown this seed-corn. Have you heard the 
following? When Lannes' adjutant came to Saragossa to summon the 
city to surrender, he found the assembled junta in the act of going to the 
cathedral, whither the president requested him to follow them. Two 
thousand armed men marched in military order into the church, and the 
envoy asked the president what it meant. " Give the marshal this an- 
swer to his summons," replied he, "that these are the sentinels on duty 
to-day, who have come to hear mass to prepare themselves for death : 
this is done every day." Were but the right impulse given from above, 
we should see great things likewise among other nations, in every nation, 
according to the measure of its capacity for greatness. 

I go to Prussia with a heavy heart. Besides, I dread the exhausting 
effects of the journey, from which I shall have no time to rest, but must 
enter forthwith upon business that will be troublesome and painful in 
many ways ; I dread the distressing scenes on the road, and the effect of 
our stay in Kbnigsberg, and the climate there upon my health. But there 
is no help for it. 

I must have left unsaid much that I had wished to say to you. I was in- 
troduced to Villers yesterday ; we met on both sides with a favorable prepos- 
session. He seems to me to be a truly intellectual and upright man 

CXVIII. 

Kon-igsberg, 21s£ September, 1809. 

You can not have looked more eagerly for tidings from us than we have 
been wishing to write to you since our departure from Berlin. But during 
the journey it was not possible to write; we traveled too quickly 

We took the route through Frankfort, Londsberg, and straight across 
West Prussia to Marienwerder. From the frontiers of Neumark to the 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 199 

Vistula the old Polish barbarism reigns over this territory, which has 
scarcely ever, until lately, been trodden by the foot of a stranger. On the 
Bromberg road every thing had already assumed a German aspect. Here, 
even in the so-called towns, you scarcely see any thing but walls of planks 
with gaping chinks, and roofs thatched with brushwood ; a look of wretch- 
edness which is not the oifspring of poverty alone, but of habitual content- 
ment with a low annual condition. The same mode of life prevails also 
among the Germans, by whom I found, to my surprise, the whole tract as 
far as Conitz inhabited. Even the churches are as wretched as the dwell- 
ing-houses. The soil is indeed, also, very bad; many of the fields only 
produce the double of what is sown ; and the whole region reminds one of 
the wildest parts of North America, for the thinly scattered villages, with 
the fields belonging to them, are only spots of cleared land in the vast 
forest still inhabited by the wolves and wild boars. The aspect of the 
country improves immediately on crossing the boundaries of West Prussia, 
at the point where the rule of the Teutonic knights introduced, four centu- 
ries ago, a culture which the Polish sway has never been able entirely to 
efface. The wilderness I have mentioned belongs to the valley of the Netz. 
At Neuenburg, and still more at Marienburg, our admiration was excited 
by the remains of the monuments of those extraordinary men, which are 
Roman in their grandeur ; the churches, and, at the latter place, the castle 
of the Grand Master of the order, are chef cT asuvres of the most beautiful 
Gothic architecture. In this place we also saw the tombs of these great 
men, and the barbarism of the late masters of the country, who have turned 
the principal building of the castle into a magazine. As we approached 
Marienwerder, we saw the beautiful levels — there, no fens, but an accumu- 
lation of rich light soil — a succession of contiguous orchards. Here, the 
frequent recurrence of newly-repaired houses and fences showed that the 
ravages of war had been great, but energy and industry had already re- 
stored the former appearance of things. In the much more fertile levels 
of Marienburg, also, the small number of cattle was the only trace left of 
devastation. But on this side Elbing, the general misery was but too 
visible ; not so much in the remains of ruined houses, or wide tracts of 
land left untilled — of these I only saw a few unequivocal instances, but by 
much more frightful tokens, the tattered garments and famished look of the 
inhabitants, the wretched huts that numbers had erected by the roadside, 
and from which they came forth as we passed, with looks that bespoke 
their misery, though they did not complain, but thanked us eagerly for the 
alms we gave them. By universal testimony, they are a very good set of 
people here. We found among our friends at Braunsberg the cheerfulness 
which is inspired by great activity, and much rejoicing over the new cor- 
poration — Stein'3 work, from whom all the towns have received an inde- 
pendent municipal constitution, the worth of which is best appreciated by 
the citizens of a town like this, which was a free town up to 1772. Our 
venerable friend, Oestreich, was chosen president by his fellow-citizens, and 
elected by his native town and all the towns in Ermiand, as their repre- 
sentative in the Diet — a reward for his many years' faithful and active 
* service which is with justice dear to him. I shall send you some copies 
of his simple and beautiful speech for the Reventlows, &c, that you may 
all become better acquainted with the noble character of a man whom we 
esteem so highly, and who has been the distributor of your alms. It con- 



200 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR, 

tains also, a very lucid explanation of this new institution — the only plan 
that has been carried into execution, out of a universal system of free ad- 
ministration which has been frustrated. In these parts, all classes are ex- 
erting themselves to repair the ravages of war. Heiligenbeil, too, with its 
suburb, is, for the most part, rebuilt ; but it is quite otherwise in the more 
remote districts higher up the Passarge. There, whole villages, and 
numerous farm-houses (which are here generally built very badly, even on 
noblemen's estates), have entirely disappeared; and in many which are 
still partly standing, the population has been almost or altogether exterm- 
inated by pillage, hunger, and pestilence. In one of these villages, there 
is only one girl left out of the whole population. The towns, portions of 
which are in ashes, are in an equally deserted state, and all the inhabitants 
of this part of the country are plunged into like poverty. It is generally an- 
ticipated that nearly all the landed proprietors will become bankrupt, and 
that property will entirely change hands; a great calamity, because those 
who grow rich in times of war and misery, are nearly always the worst 
members of society. The people do not derive much help from the abundant 
harvest, because prices are so low, and the freights for export so enormously 
high. One remarkable phenomenon is the Associations for the Good of the 
People which have sprung up within the last year. They are composed 
of all classes, and their object is the restoration of prosperity, by uniting 
their efforts to improve all hitherto neglected sources of wealth. "Where 
this is carried out in such a spirit as at Braunsberg, it certainly deserves 
all praise. 

I should have much to say to you about ourselves, if I could trust the 
post. As it is, I can only say this much, that the outward position of the 
State is discouraging, and its internal condition any thing but admirable. 

I find nothing decided respecting my appointment. Violent party-spirit 
divides my most intimate acquaintance. Some are impelled, by their re- 
sentment at Stein's conduct, to utter bitter invectives against him which 
cut me to the heart. It is absolutely impossible to arrive at any well- 
founded conviction respecting the grounds of these charges against Stein, 
and equally so to get a reliable account of the last moments of his official 
life, and the occurrences that led immediately to the fatal result. Even 
men of the greatest veracity make statements which are entirely irreconcil- 
able with each other, in many separate particulars 

CXIX. 

Konigsberg, 28th September, 1809. 
I wrote to you from Niitschau, that, in spite of Milly's unbelief, I was 
determined this time to have faith. The result has not justified my hopes. 
I have had a notable proof that respect and attachment, even when they 
are accompanied by a kind heart, and, through long intercourse, have 
assumed the color of friendship, afford a weak pledge for actions, if their 
possessor is not free from selfishness. However, I should probably soon 
succeed in opening for myself a fair career of mental activity in this place 
if tolerable apartments were to be obtained. Besides this, I feel very , 
seriously, and even depressingly, the effects of the last three years, during 
which my life has been constantly unsettled, and my movements determined 
by others. Such a life has no inward vitality ; it is like a flower plucked 
from its parent stem — it fades, and leaves no seed behind. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 201 

I find every thing here much what I had expected from my former ex- 
perience. One day slips away after another, without leaving any trace of 
its existence ; there is no earnestness, no steady contemplation : it is like 
the life of a worldling, who is wasting in a consumption, expecting death 
and a fearful eternity, and yet shrinks from the pain of turning his thoughts 
upon himself. This universal tone of feeling (some exceptions of course 
there are) is to me the most shocking possible, and it gives me an indescrib- 
able feeling of oppression to see it prevailing all around me. By the side 
of this, it is frightful to perceive the general self-complacency, and the 
opinion of many that every thing possible and needful is being done, that 
any thing more would produce evil. 

Humboldt, the king of letters, I have only seen once as yet. His re- 
ception of me was most friendly. I had expected indeed to derive much in- 
struction from his conversation. He asked very kindly after Moltke. 

There is much that is very beautiful about Pantheism, in the wider sense 
of the term, to be found in Schelling's philosophical writings, in his Re- 
searches into Freedom.* In reading this treatise I can perfectly enter into 
his system, but to mould my own mind into it, would be quite impossible. 
Besides, I shudder at the presumptuous attempt to scale heaven, by piling 
mountains on mountains, much as I delight in the wide-spread prospect 
from their heights. This treatise deserves to be widely read ; it is clearly 
written, and full of thought. Its defects are those inseparable from the 
nature of the rash and fruitless attempt to set limits to the Infinite. Still 
I have felt myself, for some time past, more strongly attracted than ever I 
was before to the search after the Real, the Living, and on this account I 
have enjoyed reading it. In many parts I have recognized, with great 
pleasure, the inmost convictions of my brightest hours. But I can not 
ascend to the summit of his philosophy upon his ladder, nor fly upon the 
wings of others. There are some strong, and almost bitter expressions 
attacking Schlegel's "Review of Stolberg's Church History," wliich I also 
think an unsatisfactory performance, though, on other grounds, I can by no 
means reconcile myself to this method of interpreting the Old Testament, 
which is in such direct opposition to my feeling of historical criticism, that 
it is the greatest obstacle in the way of my faith. If Lord Chatham's 
letters to his nephew, Thomas Pitt, fall in your way, read them ; you will 
spend a pleasant hour in contemplating the picture they afford of paternal 
tenderness, and the urbanity of a truly great man. Have you read Goethe's 
" Benvenuto Cellini ?" Though I found fault with you for setting too high 
a value upon mere power, or cherishing an overweening predilection for it, 
(I may, however, have been unjust toward you on this point), this man will 
interest us both equally. Nowhere can you find a more vivid picture of the 
artist's great era than in this biography, and with mournful feelings do you 
watch it fading away with the hero, and see him outlive it. There are 
coarse, and worse than coarse passages in the book, but you will easily 
avoid them by referring to the table of contents. 

I have found a fellow-admirer of the Faust, in Prince Radziwill, and 
his admiration does not remain as barren as mine. He has set to music 
all the passages adapted for singing ; but though the music is very touch- 
ing, I can not be persuaded that Gretchen's song at her spinning-wheel is 

* Philosophical Researches into the Essence of Human Freedom; published 
in May, 1809. 



202 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

a suitable subject for a high style of composition ; that is to say, I should 
prefer something extremely simple. I am quite delighted with his deli- 
cate sense of every beauty, though he is no German. I am curious to 
know whether Villers really, bona Jide, understands and likes the Faust ? 
Vanderbourg has written some great nonsense about it. 

In this unprecedented state of the world, individual character assumes 
a greater distinctness of outline than in any previous age, and a few ex- 
hibit a firmness, decision, and truthfulness, such as was, perhaps, rarely 
to be met with in former times. 

I have been studying Davy's " Chemical Discoveries" with great inter- 
est. They open to us a hitherto closed sanctuary. My only fear is, that 
men will again content themselves with standing at the door. 

cxx. 

Konigsberg, llth December, 1809. 

In our last we said it was not likely you would receive another letter 
from us dated from this place ; but I will not so far yield to the pressure 
of business and interruptions, as to leave, without bidding you yet another 
farewell. My old impulse to communicate to you without delay every 
thing of consequence that concerns us, will not let me wait a day before tell- 
ing you that this morning my fate has been decided, as I have received my 
appointment as Privy Councilor of State, and head of the section for tho 
management of the National Debt and Monetary Institutions, in conjunc- 
tion with L'Abbaye. This double appointment is an anomaly committed 
at my request, in order to avoid a very injurious division of the public 
business, and to anticipate and prevent the mortification, which an old 
and deserving servant of the state might otherwise possibly feel. I re- 
ceive no increase of salary, because I think it a sin at the present moment 
to accept more than I absolutely require, though all my colleagues have 
had their salaries raised 2000 dollars per annum. Since, however, there 
will now be many fresh sources of expense and new taxes, I shall really 
be worse paid for my services than I was three years ago : and therefore 
shall accept with all the better conscience, an official residence now stand- 
ing empty, which, moreover, M. Von Stein had three years ago destined 
for my use, together with an addition to my salary of 1000 dollars, which 
I have never applied for, and now resign entirely. I am sure we shall be 
able to manage by making use of the interest of our capital. 

I have been persuaded for some time, that this would be the issue of 
affairs with us, and therefore did not hesitate to meet a proposal made to 
me, by the Carlsruhe cabinet to enter their service as vice-president, with 
the answer that I expected shortly to receive a permanent appointment, 
and only in the opposite case could I, or would I, entertain the idea of 
leaving this country. The picture of the beautiful country, the southern 
climate, and the milder air, is not without its charms to me ; but I long for 
a permanent position and occupations, and for rest ; and I am attached 
to this government and nation, by the bonds of common sentiments and 
common sufferings. I should have felt myself a foreigner there ; as I shall 
do, perhaps, in Berlin ; for as yet I only feel at home in the land of my 
youth. I feel at this moment, when all is decided, as a bride might feel, 
who had given her hand away on well-considered reasons. 

WiH you belie ve — I know you will — that the outward show of the post 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 203 

I have just received has not for a moment attracted or pleased me ? I 
feel that I am free from that ambition, which received its hateful name 
from the presumed existence of a bad motive — but not from that which 
springs from the feeling and consciousness of a vocation to action and 
power ; this no one can censure. I commiserate the nation, and I feel a 
calling to alleviate its misery, even if its greatest evils admit of no rem- 
edy. The object of my wishes and plans is to save the poor state-credit- 
ors (who are in the greatest extremity and have received no interest for 
years), without the necessity of imposing fresh burdens upon the nation ; 
to satisfy the most sacred claims of thousands of sufferers ; to regulate the 
provincial debts, so as to relieve the poor inhabitants ; and to save the 
landed proprietors. I trust that the restoration of the paper currency to 
its full value will be the result of one of the plans I have drawn up. Out- 
ward events may frustrate these undertakings at their very commencement ; 
the difficulties which their details present to myself, I feel that I am strong 
enough to conquer, for the importance of their object inspires energy and 
power ; no one can lay any thing to my charge, and a definite vocation 
is a fulcrum by which your lever can raise any weight. And even if your 
enterprise only succeeds to a certain extent, so long as you can not attrib- 
ute its partial failure to your own indolence, you have a sweet reward — 
you sleep in peace and your heart is at rest, even amid bitter disappoint- 
ments and irreparable losses. If I were to talk in this style to others, it 
might be called boastful and ostentatious ; it is not so to you, with whom 
I am used to talk as with my own heart. 

We begin our journey to-morrow by way of Pillau and Dantzic j the best 
route there is, though it is bad enough 

CXXI. 

TO HIS FATHER. 

Stettin, 2Qd December, 1809. 
I had made up my mind to accept no post, in which the execu- 
tion of my plans would have been committed into other hands, for I know 
that these plans are salutary, and I feel an unequivocal vocation to ren- 
der help to this suffering nation. The administration of finance is not a 
science that can be learnt by studying a system ; it is in reality an art. 
Many of its rules can not be reduced to the principles of a system, even in 
the hands of those who have the clearest practical acquaintance with them ; 
besides, there are a hundred arts and knacks connected with its manage- 
ment, which one can only find out for oneself, by actual experiment, and 
long practice. I am conscious of possessing this art, and venture to say, 
moreover, that I know very few who are more than bunglers in it. It 
would be bad, indeed, if I did not possess it, seeing that its acquisition has 
cost me the best years and the true vocation of my life. While I was in 
Copenhagen, indeed, I only practiced it as an apprentice ; still, I shall al- 
ways reproach myself that, through my weakness and desire to oblige, the 
views which I saw to be correct were not carried into effect. It does not 
silence my conscience on this point, that the structure I wished to rear was 
overthrown by terrible convulsions, when it had scarcely risen above the 
ground ; for, with really wise institutions, even when their general fabric 
is shattered by calamity, some detached results remain ; an attentive ob- 



204 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHIL 

server sees every where around him, even in common" things, traces of the 
deeds and actions of long-past centuries. The last few years, likewise — 
weary, bitter years to me, during which I have constantly removed further 
and further from my earlier sphere — have not been lost as respects my 
progress in knowledge of this kind ; but so much the more binding is the 
duty of putting in practice what I have learnt, especially considering the 
urgency of the present distress, in which every alleviation is a blessing. 
What is there left, too, for myself, but to act so as to have the comfort of 
this consciousness, since my favorite studies and favorite ideas are lost 
and gone ? 

[After giving an account of his colleague, L'Abbaye, and explaining 
their relative position, he proceeds as follows :] 

My first business now, is to mark out and divide our respective depart- 
ments. In general, my department includes the management of the na- 
tional debt, home and foreign, the bank-notes or treasury -bonds, the finan- 
cial arrangements respecting the alienation of the crown lands, the invest- 
ment of all the cash balances not immediately required, the collection of 
the outstanding debts due to the exchequer, the salt monopoly, and the 
banking operations of the state. From the personal confidence with which 
the minister, Count Bohna, honors me, I shall also exercise a general super- 
vision over the public debts and systems of credit of the separate prov- 
inces, and over the private banks, which I propose to establish. The ex- 
tent of my duties will thus be very great, and unless my health keeps 
good, I shall scarcely be able to get through them. But with method and 
a retired life, arranged in all respects with reference to my work, I trust it 
will be possible to satisfy the demands of my conscience. 

I have the great pleasure of finding that the ordinance I drew up re- 
specting the treasury- bonds has made a very favorable impression on the 
public. They have already risen to 80, and there is no doubt they will 
be nearly at par in the course of two or three months. This change, 
which will extend the currency of the country by two or three millions, 
has been effected by a comparatively slight effort ; and I hope that the 
payment of interest on the exchequer bills will be accomplished in the 
same way, without adding to the burdens of the nation. I told you in 
my former letter, dear father, that I was convinced the Konigsberg bonds 
would rise as soon as I was intrusted with the management of the na- 
tional debt. My expectation was justified ; they have risen, in fact, from 
64 to 72. This proof of national confidence is to me the most flattering 
distinction I could have ; and it is incredible how much popularity will 
accomplish in financial matters. If I succeed in being elected at the next 
renewal of a part of the municipal council of Berlin — the so-called town 
deputies — I hope to restore the credit of that city, now almost destroyed, 
by the same plan that I drew up for Konigsberg. The new municipal institu- 
tions have worked very badly in many places, because the so-called people 
of rank have refused to take any share in them ; but the spirit of these 
institutions is admirable, and will inevitably purify the mode in which 
they are carried out. But there must be an example given of a public 
officer of high standing who does not object to meet operatives and petty 
citizens as his equals in this connection. 

I hope, my dearest father, that neither you, nor any of our friends tq 
whom you may communicate this letter (it will interest Behrens partic r 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 205 

ularly), will think that my expressions savor of ostentation, or making a 
boast of juggling expedients. None of you can so mistake me, and who- 
ever will believe my word, must believe me when I say, that I would will- 
ingly give all this popularity, to go back to the world in which I lived so 
happily in years gone by. Still, it is happiness to feel that you can alle- 
viate misery, pave the way for what is good, and avert evil. When the 
heart is heavy, you feel that thus you can lay up joy in secret, and even 
in heaven. I have made a speculation for my poor Ermlanders, with 
moneys that would otherwise have lain useless in my coffers, which I hope 
will bring in upwards of 12,000 dollars. If so, they shall give joy to 
many a heart that has felt none these three years 

cxxii. • 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 27th January, 1810. 

The war has hitherto cost the remnant of our State not less 

than 100,000,000 dollars, and yet in the country parts here things are 
scarcely worse than in many other places where the ravages of war did 
not reach ; in the little towns things are certainly much worse. I pre- 
sume you will admit that commerce is a good thing, and the first requi- 
site to the life of any nation. It appears to me that this much has now 
been palpably demonstrated, that an advanced and complicated social 
condition, like that in which we live, can only be maintained by estab- 
lishing mutual relationships between the most remote nations, and that 
the limitation of commerce would, like the sapping of a main pillar, in- 
evitably occasion the fall of the whole edifice ; and also, that commerce 
is so essentially beneficial, and in accordance with man's nature, that the 
well-being of each nation is an advantage to all the nations which stand 
in connection with it 

CXXIII. 

Berlin, I6tk February, 1810. 
I complained to you lately of the numberless hindrances and in- 
terruptions which deprive me of all the satisfaction I might otherwise de- 
rive from my official occupations. If it were not for these, which render 
it impossible for me to accomplish what I ought, and would like to do, 
my official duties would often afford me some gratification ; though the 
ruins amidst which I have to clear a spot, and commence a new edifice, 
are melancholy enough. As it is, however, the natural connection be- 
tween thought, action, and consequences, is quite broken, though my efforts 
are not wholly without success. Things of apparently little importance 
hinder or absolutely prevent the accomplishment of what is most essential. 
Another source of grief to me, lies in the spirit in which the administra- 
tion is carried on, and in the principles of the financial arrangements for 
the country at large, which are widely different from mine. Frugality, 
the utmost retrenchment of the public expenditure consistent with the due 
performance of the state services, and the just claims of individuals — the 
encouragement of all sources of wealth — the mildest possible taxation ac- 
cording to local and other circumstances — conscientiousness and judgment 
in the appointment of the subordinate officers of government, combined 
with a strict superintendence of them — are among the most indispensable 



206 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

conditions of an administration such as we need, which, however, any 
man must and will fail to carry out, who has not passed through a long 
course of preparation, and is not possessed of deep and penetrating wisdom. 

Besides all this too, I must confess that my sorrow for the sacrifice of 
my inward life to this miserable finance often wakes up with renewed 
force. A consciousness how dearly any perfection in this art must be pur- 
chased by a man who is fit for something better, is probably the true rea- 
son, why so very few honest men have ever made themselves masters of 
it. This consciousness, with which I was vividly impressed with regard 
to official life in general, before I had entered on it, did not warn me, 
when after my entrance, a path opened to me toward finance. For a long 
time past, I have been almost unable to refresh myself by study, and yet 
the mind becomes sadly poverty-stricken when filled by no other thoughts 
than those arising from one monotonous occupation. This estrangement 
from my true life has now already lasted nearly three years and a half, 
and time tends ever onward away from the forsaken shore, till return be- 
comes impossible. 

As yet I have seen very few of the learned men of this place. 

I still consider our future as very precarious — many times I doubt of it 
altogether ; the Dutch loan, however, does something to render it more 
secure. Poor Holland is often in my mind, and fills me with compassion. 
I have little doubt, however, that we shall drag along for a time in our 
present position. And so we trust that nothing in our fate will hinder us 
from seeing you here this summer, and receiving you — oh, with what joy- 
ful hearts ! 

The Countess Werthern is very weak ; her sister has at last been set 
at liberty in Paris, and is now with her. Stein is said to be in Briinn, 
and in good spirits. It is said here that negotiations are going on for 
Hardenberg's recall. 

CXXIV. 

Berlin, 27tk May, 1810. 

We want sadly to see you just now, that we might forget in your so- 
ciety the miserable position in which we are living. Hardenberg, who can 
scarcely at present enter the government openly as a minister, exercises, 
nevertheless, a sort of premiership in private. He is at a country-house 
about a mile and a half from the city, where he is concocting measures on 
subjects of which he and his assistants are perfectly ignorant. The present 
ministry is, in fact, quite set on one side, and is sinking into exhaustion 

without having resolution to resign I have remained firm to my 

conviction, that we must not use bad means, nor enter into companionship 
with the wicked, even for good ends ; that an honest man even should he 
yossess sufficient skill to fight intriguers with their own weapons, must 
lot do it. and that we must never suffer ourselves to be misled, by the 
lope of being useful, into doing what we should not be willing to avow 
>penly. I leave the present ministry to defend itself; but being convinced 
:hat the actual state of things is injurious, and that the next step will 
lot be an amendment, I have sent a very earnest representation of the 
jtate of the country to the King, pointing out its evils, and have requested 
ny dismissal, and, at the same time, my appointment to the chair of his- 
tory, in the University which will be opened here at Michaelmas. 

Milly has been unwell for some days, &c, &c. 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 207 

cxxv. 

TO HIS FATHER. 

Berlin, 3d June, 1810. 

Amelia has already written to you about my position, as it ought to be 
at present, and since then you will have read an official article on it in the 
''Hamburgh Correspondent," copied from the Berlin journal. I certainly 
am not so free from government business as I had wished, but am still 
connected with the finance department. However, I am no longer person- 
ally engaged in the Finance Commission, and the rest will no doubt settle 
itself in time. If, however, things should continue as they have been for 
the last week, during which my time has been completely taken up with 
composing reports on proposed measures, there is but little hope of im- 
provement in my health or return to my studies. I particularly wish to 
resume the study of Arabic, to which my thoughts have been recalled by 
Lord Valentia. I have been reminded, too, how unpardonable it was in 
me to content myself, when in Copenhagen, with merely looking at the 
Chronicle of Zebid, which, from the contents of one chapter I remember, 
would doubtless enable us to fill up the gaps in the Abyssinian history of 
the middle ages, and probably throw light on that of the Mohammedan 
states. If things should remain quiet, and I am able to make use of the 
permission granted me to travel for literary purposes, I intend, therefore, 
as soon as I have revived my Arabic, to go to Copenhagen, in order to 
examine the Arabic MSS. there, and in particular this Chronicle. 

As long, however, as I am occupied with business which must absorb any 
one who is not accustomed to work superficially, and am obliged to confer and 
associate so much with people who have no life beyond their official one, so 
long it is impossible for me to return to science as completely as I should 
wish. Still, a great step has been made toward the attainment of quiet. 

It gives us the greatest pleasure, dearest father, that this termination 
of affairs does not annoy you, and that it seems as though you, too, would 
be pleased to see me more decidedly devote myself to letters 

CXXVI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 1st July, 1810. 

There are schemes afloat about which I can not be silent. I 

have risked every thing by venturing to expose their essentially pernicious 
character, and even though the consequences to myself should be very un- 
pleasant, I have never enjoyed a clearer conviction of having acted rightly 
and wisely. I am satisfied, that even if I fail in the attempt to stifle 
them in the birth, they will come into the world only half alive. My op- 
position, which, I am pleased to find, wins me respect in many quarters, 
gives others also time and courage to come forward, though I have long 
stood alone in my efforts to protect the State against their projects. Such 
opposition has its dangers, and I have not been altogether without un- 
easiness. Yet I soon recovered my calmness in the consciousness that I 
stand or fall in a thoroughly good cause, and however things turn out, I 
shall never recall this time with regret, but rather dwell upon its memory 
with pleasure. 



208 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

When this crisis is over, I hope to succeed in abstracting my thoughts 
from public affairs, and returning to my studies. We are at last expecting 
the arrival of my library, along with our other effects. When surrounded 
with my books, a few months will suffice to revive the images that have 
half faded from my memory, and then I must resume my pen — unless fate 
should have forever denied me rest, as a punishment for having desired 
excitement and activity. 

You are not far from us now, yet I scarely dare to think of your coming 
to us as certain and near. 

CXXVII. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Berlin, 3d July, 1810. 

Dearest Moltke, I feel it to be one of the greatest advantages I derive 
from my partial liberation from public business, to be able to answer the 
letter I received from you yesterday. A few weeks earlier, it would have 
been impossible, from the causes which have overwhelmed me with a 
greater amount of correspondence than at any previous time since my 
return from Konigsberg, and of a more unpleasant nature. But suffer me 
to pass over the period that is just closed ; it has, however, been one of 
the darkest, perhaps quite the darkest portion of my life. I was very ill 
at Konigsberg, so ill that the foretaste of intellectual, if not of physical 
death was on my lips ; I sank under the influences of the climate, com- 
bined with the bodily exhaustion produced by long-continued exertions of 
passionate intensity, and the disappointment of all my dearest hopes (al- 
low me to attribute to my body a participation in the operations of my 
mind) ; and in this state I was forced to toil at Prussian Citissime's, ac- 
companied by ponderous piles of deeds. There was nothing cheering to 
turn to ; every thing excited bitterness and discontent ; I was indeed in 
a new world — in the world of the coldest iron age. When I was only 
beginning to recover, I traveled hither at the worst season of the year ; 
tried to conceal from myself how ill and exhausted I was ; got stupefied 
with business and new faces ; pushed and dragged at the rusty wheels of 
the machine till my hands were sore, and I was worn out with fatigue ; 
continued constantly unwell ; grew worse from time to time, and quite 
unfit for any sort of exertion : at last I got a little better, but by that 
time business had accumulated so that I had to work doubly hard till I 
fell ill again. 

When the intrigues began, which have led to the present changes (per- 
haps not yet ended), I soon got an inkling that they might very likely 
issne in my release from the yoke of public life. 

Your letter of the 25th of April, about the provincial system of credit, 
did not reach me till the end of May, and then — which quite puzzles me 
to conceive where it could have come from — bearing an address in a strange 
hand, and franked through Boitzenburg. You can neither have sent it 
from Hamburgh nor Kiel by that route. About the matter itself, I can 
say little in a letter, and nothing in the space of a few lines ; for it could 
only be suitably disposed of in a voluminous report, or a verbal discussion, 
and for the former I feel by no means inclined just as I have made my 
escape from business. I think that our system of credit, which reached 



THE PRUSSIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 209 

a much greater extension than people seem to be aware of in youx country, 
and at last kept in circulation mortgage notes to the amount of more than 
54,000,000 dollars, has done much injury, by promoting a trade in land, 
although it has been, and still is, productive of some advantages 

Pray for free trade, for if you could export your wheat, barley and oats, 
to foreign countries, you would be saved, just as in that case East Prussia 
might also recover from the war in the course of a few years. 

None of the new works, with which the Leipsic fair has rejoiced your 
heart, are known to me as yet. With our heavy expenses, we are obliged 
to be very economical, and I deny myself new books like wine. The new 
edition of the original text of the "Nibelungen Lied" is the only thing 
lying before me, and that was sent me by the editor himself. In this 
form, this wonderful poem can not fail of producing the greatest effect 
upon you 

CXXVIII. 

TO HIS FATHER. 

Berlin, 21s*; July, 1810. 

As Salt appears to be a very judicious and unassuming man, 

who will not in any way irritate and insult the feelings of the natives, I 
firmly believe that the embassy may be of the highest benefit to the 
Abyssinians, since they seem to be peculiarly prepared for the reception 
of European arts and civilization. The only fear is, that the unseasonable 
activity of the London Missionary Society, which has disturbed the peace 
of India, might endanger there also the good understanding which would 
no doubt subsist at first between them and the English, from their not 
regarding the latter as Catholic Europeans. The Abyssinians with their 
lively curiosity, stand nearly on the same level as the Russians did before 
Peter the Great, and in their beautiful climate, civilization may develop 
itself with more completeness and nationality than in Russia, where it 
has been spoilt by a bad model. That England will reap any polit- 
ical advantages, or even any considerable extension of her commerce, is 
very improbable. She might perhaps enlist some very serviceable soldiers 
there, but the entire trade of the country itself, and of that part of Africa 
to which Abyssinia would serve as an approach, can only employ a few 
ships, at least for many years to come. In the course of a century perhaps 
a great market may be opened even in these regions, and this may be 
worthy of consideration in the policy of a state, which may calculate with 
security on a prolonged existence, unless it be destroyed from within. 

No one certainly can deny that England is at this moment rapidly ad- 
vancing in power and prosperity, but that she is safe from internal con- 
vulsions and changes, can not be affirmed with equal certainty. The 
present ministers are not equal to the exigences of their position, and no 
internal prosperity can allay the discontent and fermentation arising from 
this circumstance, which may, too, lead to something much worse than 
the existing grounds of dissatisfaction, and yet ought not perhaps to be 
deprived of an outlet for expression. In times of extraordinary internal 
prosperity and great outward emergency, the absence of great men is al- 
most as ruinous as in times of great, calamity, and unquestionably England 
has never been so poor in great men as she is at the present moment 



CHAPTER VII. 

NIEBUHR'S PROFESSORSHIP IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN, 
1810 TO 1813. 

Niebuhr's relinquishment of office, in 1810, forms an important 
epoch in his life. He was now thirty-four years of age, and since 
his twentieth year (with the exception of the sixteen months passed 
in England and Scotland), had been actively engaged in the pub- 
He service. During this period he had indeed never lost sight of 
his philological researches, but he had only been able to devote to 
them his few hours of leisure ; now, it was to be seen whether he 
could find satisfaction in the life of a student, after years passed 
in the midst of the great world, and surrounded by exciting cir- 
cumstances. How far he had, however, turned these leisure 
hours to account, may be judged by the following memorandum, 
found, with many others of a similar kind, among his papers, and 
written, most probably, in Copenhagen, about 1803. 

" Works which I have to complete : 

" 1. Treatise on Roman Domains. 

" 2. Translation of El Wakidi. 

" 3. History of Macedon. 

" 4. Account of the Roman Constitution at its various Epochs. 

"5. History of the Achaean Confederation, of the Wars of the 
Confederates, and of the Civil Wars of Marius and Sylla. 

"6. Constitutions of the Greek States. 

" 7. Empire of the Caliphs." 

No detailed outlines of these, or any of his other literary under- 
takings, are to be found ; but it must not be inferred that such 
memoranda contain mere projects, toward whose execution no 
steps were ever taken. That Niebuhr proposed any such work 
to himself, was a certain sign that he had read and thought deeply 
on the subject, but he was able to trust so implicitly to his extraor- 
dinary memory, that he never committed any portion of his essays to 
paper, till the whole was complete in his own mind. His memory 
was so wonderfully retentive, that he scarcely ever forgot any thinf; 
which he had once heard or read, and the facts he knew remained 
present to him at all times, even in their minutest details. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 211 

His wife and his sister once playfully took up Gibbon, and asked 
him questions from the table of contents, about the most trivial 
things, by way of testing his memory. They carried on the ex- 
amination till they were tired, and gave up all hope of even de- 
tecting him in a momentary uncertainty, though he was at the 
same time engaged hi writing on some other subject. He was 
once conversing wdth a party of Austrian officers about Napoleon's 
Italian campaigns. Some dispute arose respecting the position of 
different corps in the battle of Marengo. Niebuhr described ex- 
actly how they were placed, and the progress of the action. The 
officers contradicted him ; but on maps being brought he was 
found to be in the right, and to know more of the details of the 
conflict than the very officers who had been present. One day, 
when he was talking with Professor Welcker, of Bonn, the con- 
versation happened to turn on the weather, and Niebuhr quoted 
the results of barometrical observations in the different years, as 
far back as 1770, with perfect accuracy. 

This power w r as not a merely mechanical faculty ; it was inti- 
mately connected with the power of instantaneously seizing on all 
the relations of any fact placed before him, and with his wonder- 
ful imagination ; his imagination, however, w r as that of an his- 
torian, not of a poet — it was not creative, but enabled him to 
form, from the most various, and apparently inadequate sources, 
distinct and trutliful pictures of scenes, actions, and characters. 
Hence his keen delight in travels ; hence, too, his habit of pro- 
nouncing judgment on the men of other countries and of past 
times, wdth all the warmth of a fellow-countryman and a con- 
temporary. 

With his warm affections, and clear-sighted moral sense, it was 
impossible for him to form such opinions on past or present history, 
coolly standing aloof, as it were, and regarding the subject with 
calm superiority ; he could not but condemn and despise all that 
was pernicious and base ; he could not but love and reverence, 
with his whole heart, whatever was noble and beautiful. Such 
opinions and feelings he expressed with the utmost frankness, 
sometimes even with vehemence, when prudence would have 
counseled more guarded language. 

It was this same powder of entering into the cast of thought and 
circumstances of others, which led foreigners to find pleasure in 
his society, and even to form intimate friendships with him, and 



212 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR, 

which enabled him to predict, with remarkable accuracy, what 
course such and such statesmen would pursue in public affairs. 
But he was not, in general, fond of analyzing character, especially 
the characters of those whom he loved. He could not endure to 
separate off their different qualities, and balance their excellences 
against their defects : he seized on the whole personality at once. 
In his friendships he was most warm and constant ; though his 
constitutional irritability of mind and body sometimes betrayed 
him into expressions which gave pain for the moment, yet no one 
could be in truth more tender-hearted. He was fully aware of 
his own uncommon endowments, but his absolute freedom from 
envy, and his eagerness to recognize and do homage to merit of 
whatever kind, preserved him from such mean faults as vanity 
and conceit. He was himself habitually serious, but had a quick 
sense of the ludicrous, and greatly enjoyed wit and humor in 
others. Of children he was very fond, and was always a great 
favorite with them. 

The university of Berlin was opened at Michaelmas, 1810. 
The most distinguished men in nearly all the departments of 
knowledge had been appointed, among whom Schleiermacher, 
Savigny, Buttmann, and Heindorff are names well known to En- 
glish readers. Indeed Berlin, from this time forward, may almost 
be considered as the centre of the intellectual life of Germany. 
Niebuhr was, therefore, in a favorable atmosphere for the prose- 
cution of his learned researches, and, in fact, the next three years 
formed one of the calmest and happiest portions of his life. The 
political state of the world occupied him less than at almost any 
former period, partly because he was satisfied that no great im- 
provement in the outward position of Prussia could take place for 
the present, while he retained the hope that, after a long prepar- 
atory night of discipline, a brighter day would yet dawn upon the 
future ; partly because he now lived almost exclusively in the 
world of letters, and had comparatively little intercourse with 
political circles. 

His first literary production, after his retirement from public 
life, was a Treatise on the Amphictyons, written in July, 1810. 

At the opening of the university, Niebuhr delivered those lec- 
tures on Roman History which formed the foundation of his great 
historical work. He thus describes the mode in which the idea 
was first suggested to him, in a letter, dated the 31st of August, 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 213 

to Madame Hensler, who had just quitted Berlin after a visit at 
his house: "We meant to be alone after you had left us, but 
Spalding dropped in accidentally. He told us that he meant to 
deliver lectures, in connection with the university, this winter, 
and urged me to do the same. Nicolovius, to whom I mentioned 
the subject afterward, was most warmly in favor of it. I would 
willingly take Spalding's suggestion as a call to the work ; but he 
who announces a series of lectures without any official call to do 
so, especially when he can not conceal from himself that he should 
be disappointed if he had not some distinguished auditors, is bound 
to deliver something of more than ordinary excellence. Now the 
time for preparation is short, and I could never reconcile myself 
to patching my work up, and eking out the deficiencies with ir- 
relevant matter. To give a course of lectures upon the whole of 
a science, or the history of a country, for the instruction of youths, 
is not a hard task ; in most cases, one which simply requires a 
continued effort of memory ; but it is quite another thing when 
one wishes, and ought to give only a quintessence, to the exclusion 
of all generally known points. I think I should succeed best at 
first with an account of the political and civil institutions of the 
nations of antiquity. You know how much study I have bestowed 
on these subjects already." 

It is evident here that he had not yet decided upon the subject 
of his lectures, but on September 1st, he writes : "I have determ- 
ined to give a course of lectures on the History of Rome. Spalding 
urged me to deliver, instead, a course for young men at first, and 
afterward a single lecture upon some select theme. I would never 
have undertaken to write the History of Rome, but to lecture on 
it is a somewhat less rash undertaking. I shall begin with the 
primitive state of Italy, and, as far as possible, represent the an- 
cient races, not only from the narrow point of view of their subju- 
gation, but also as they were in themselves, and as they had been 
in their earlier stages ; then, in the Roman History, I shall give 
an account of the constitution and administration, of which I have 
a vivid picture before my mind's eye. I should like to bring this 
history down to the latest era, when the forms developed from the 
germs of antiquity became utterly extinct, and those of the middle 
ages took their place." He writes to his father, in October, that 
he feels very happy in his new, or rather old, sphere of action, and 
desires its continuance ; although there are moments in which he 



214 MEMOIR OF NIEBtJHE. 

almost reproaches himself for his tranquillity, when he is conscious 
that he could fulfill certain public duties better than those who 
are now charged with them. This letter is also a proof that the 
most intense occupation with a subject like the Roman history, 
which called every feeling and power into action, could not stifle 
his interest in other perfectly dissimilar studies, belonging likewise 
rather to an earlier period of his life ; for he relates to his father 
several facts connected with Bruce' s Travels, which had recently 
come to light through the publication of the journals of the Italian 
who accompanied him. 

Savigny says, of this opening course of lectures:* " Nie- 
buhr himself describes the impression made by his course of 
lectures on Roman history, in a manner that can not fail of its 
effect on the mind of any susceptible reader.! Certainly many 
might be disposed to think that in this letter he overrates the ex- 
tent of his own success, as we are so apt to do in our own case, 
even when we are animated by the strongest love of truth ; but I 
can testify that he has rather said too little than too much. Nie- 
buhr was appearing for the first time in the character of an in- 
structor ; he had as yet earned no fame as a writer, and thus the 
esteem and consideration which he certainly already enjoyed, were 
necessarily limited to the narrower circle of his personal ac- 
quaintance. He told me himself at the time, that he had only 
expected to have students, and a small number of them, as his 
hearers, and should have been fully satisfied if that had been 
the case ; but in addition to a large audience of the students, they 
were attended by members of the Academy, professors of the Uni- 
versity, public men and officers of all grades, who spread the fame 
of the lectures abroad, and thus continually attracted fresh hearers. 
It was the fairest harbinger of the future eminence of the youthfu 1 
university. This unexpected success re-acted on Niebuhr's sus- 
ceptible nature, and filled him with fresh inspiration. While he 
had previously felt a peculiar partiality for this subject of research, 
his courage and his inclination were now raised to the highest 
point by this respectful appreciation of his merits, and the daily 
and familiar intercourse with distinguished scholars. 

" His time, at that period, was unceasingly occupied in product- 
ive efforts made with youthful energy and joy, and reAvarded by a 

* In his Essay on Niebuhr, appended to the Lebensnachrichte™, vol. iii. p. 
143. f See letter, pa.^e 220. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 215 

grateful recognition of their value ; and it is visible even in these 
letters, as well as confirmed by many expressions to his friends, 
that no portion of his life afforded him such high and unmixed 
enjoyment. 

" The mode of his delivery was also remarkable. He had writ- 
ten down his lecture verbatim, and read it off before his hearers. 
This proceeding, which usually injures the liveliness of the impres- 
sion, had, in his case, the most animated and powerful effect, such 
as in general only accompanies an extempore delivery. His hearers 
felt as if transported into ancient times, when the public reading 
of new works supplied the place of our printed books, and there 
was a less extended circulation, but they made a warmer and 
more personal impression." 

The writer of the foregoing extract was one of those to whose 
intimacy Niebuhr considered himself most deeply indebted for the 
acquisition of new ideas, and for that sympathy with his own, 
which was the best stimulus to his creative powers. Von Savigny 
had already attained a high reputation as a professor of jurispru- 
dence, at Marburg and Landshut, when he was called to Berlin 
at the opening of the university ; but he had not yet published his 
" History of Roman Law in the Middle Ages," and " System of 
Roman Law at the Present Day," through which he has since 
acquired celebrity. Niebuhr has acknowledged his obligations to 
Savigny, in the preface to his first volume of the " History of 
Rome." Another of the learned friends to whom he alludes was 
Nicolovius, who was now employed in Berlin under the minister 
for ecclesiastical affairs and public instruction. 

Schleiermacher, Buttmann, Heindorf, Spalding, and two others, 
with Niebuhr, instituted a sort of little philological society, the 
members of which used to meet once a week at each other's 
houses in turn, to read and correct some classical author. The 
evenings concluded with a supper, at which the utmost freedom 
and hilarity prevailed. Buttmann especially was as much distin- 
guished by his sparkling wit as by his learning. Niebuhr's was 
one of those child-like open natures that can not exist without the 
unrestrained communication of their thoughts. Probably this im- 
pulse to express his ideas, just as they arose, was one of the chief 
causes which so long withheld him from coming forward as a 
writer. He threw out all his best thoughts in conversation, and 
lost, by so doing, the incentive to any further communication of 



216 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

them; meanwhile he retained them with unfading colors in his 
own mind, by means of his unexampled memory, without needing 
to write them down, and with this he was satisfied. To this must 
also be added, that he set before himself an unattainable ideal, 
which, on objective rather than subjective grounds, he thought it 
a duty to realize before submitting any production to the world. 

Now, however, the success which attended his lectures in the 
delivery, induced him to extend his researches, and to combine 
their results so as to render them fit for publication. From this 
time forward he regarded the writing of his " History of Rome" as 
the vocation and task of his life. 

He was closely occupied during this winter with his lectures, 
and their preparation for printing, which began as early as May. 
But he found time to write, besides, a " Treatise on the History of 
the Scythians and Sarmatians," for the Academy of Science, and 
at the request of the minister Dohna, drew up a plan for the re- 
organization of the provincial governments. 

By the middle of June, 1811, the printing of the first volume 
of his history was so far advanced, that he was able to take a 
long-projected journey to Holstein. The fatigue occasioned by his 
constant labor in the composition of his History, had begun seri- 
ously to affect his health, and rendered a change necessary. He 
remained among his relations in Holstein till the middle of Sep- 
tember. These family meetings were among the most delightful 
recollections of all who took part in them. After spending the 
morning in work, Niebuhr devoted the rest of the day to relaxa- 
tion, entering eagerly into the games of the children, or reading 
aloud to their parents, on which occasions he used generally to take 
the comic parts, to the great amusement of his hearers. 

On his return to Berlin, he found the first volume of his History 
ready for publication. In the winter of 1811-12, he continued 
his lectures, and at the same time prepared the second volume of 
his History for the press. He attended, this winter, Schleiermach- 
er's lectures on the history of philosophy, and declares in one of his 
letters that, " he does not think any other university can boast of 
any thing like them." In December he wrote a treatise for the 
Academy, on which, however, he himself did not set any great 
value. The second volume of the " History of Rome," which he 
composed during this winter, contains the remainder of the lec- 
tures that he delivered in the preceding one. According to the 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 217 

plan he had made at this time, the lectures of 1811-12 were to 
form the third, and a part of the fourth volume. He then ex- 
pected to be able to bring the History down to the time of Augus- 
tus, with the fifth volume — which he afterward found impossible, 
as his researches extended — and hoped to complete the work in a 
few years, if he continued to labor at it without interruption. 

In February, 1812, he was seriously ill with an inflammation 
of the chest, and was obliged to discontinue his lectures for some 
time. 

In the spring of this year, the French armies began their march 
through Prussia, on their way to Moscow. The interest in poli- 
tics, which had only slumbered for a time in Niebuhr's mind, could 
not but be roused again by the aspect of affairs, and directed with 
eager attention to the results of the events that were taking place. 
On occasion of the passage of one of the bodies of troops, he met 
with Intendant-general Dumas, whom he had formerly known in 
Holstein, when he took refuge there after the French Directory had 
condemned him to be transported to Cayenne. He regarded Dumas 
as an honorable and intelligent man, whom he should have heart- 
ily rejoiced in meeting under different circumstances. 

Though the constant arrival and departure of troops occasioned 
him much disturbance, as soldiers were quartered in his house, he 
got his second volume ready for the press by May. He wrote 
several reviews during the summer of 1812, but, with this excep- 
tion, allowed himself, at length, a little intermission from his 
labors. These reviews he did not wish to survive him, and he 
had a similar feeling with regard to all his polemic writings. His 
opinion was that, though it is necessary to be able to contend for 
the truth, no unfriendly words ought to be preserved. With regard 
to his political writings he said, that they might be collected after 
his death if it seemed advisable. 

Meanwhile, the second volume of his Roman History was sent 
to press. The indifference with which, as he thought, it was 
received by the public, pained him much ; but he persisted in his 
resolution of continuing the work. The circumstances of that time, 
when the public attention was universally engrossed by the great 
transactions taking place in the north of Europe, were necessarily 
unfavorable to the reception of a work like his. 

In October, 1812, he began a course of lectures on Roman 
antiquities, and went on with them to the end, notwithstanding 
K 



218 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the excitement occasioned by the frequent passage of troops. He 
was likewise occupied by the revisal of the third volume of the 
History, which he intended to have ready for the printer by the 
beginning of the new year. This plan was frustrated by the im- 
portant events that ensued, which engaged all his thoughts, and 
filled his soul with new hopes of deliverance from the French 
yoke. He was soon involved in the bustle and turmoil of public 
life. 

Niebuhr had hitherto read his lectures gratis ; he now took fees 
for them, which he devoted to the assistance of distressed families, 
who were naturally at this time more numerous than usual. To 
have it in his power to afford help wherever he saw anxiety or 
want, was always a joy to him. He and his wife exercised their 
benevolence most nobly, both in great tilings and small, and he 
often expressed his thankfulness to God for having given him the 
means to be of service. 

During the winter of 1812-13, French troops were constantly 
passing through Berlin on their way from Russia. Their disasters 
kindled a ray of hope in every heart ; and though the unutterable 
sufferings of the enemy excited general compassion, the spirit of 
patriotism rejoiced in the prospect of brighter days. On the evacua- 
tion of Berlin by the French, in February, 1813, Niebuhr shared 
in the national rejoicings, and not less in the enthusiasm displayed 
in the preparations for the complete re-conquest of freedom. When 
the Landwehr was called out, he refused to evade serving in it, as 
he could take no other part in the war. His wish was to act as 
secretary to the general staff; but if this were not possible, he 
meant to enter the service as a volunteer with some of his friends. 
For this purpose he went through the exercises, and when the 
time came for those of his age to be summoned, sent in his name 
as a volunteer to the Landwehr. He would have preferred enter- 
ing a regular regiment, and applied to the King for permission to 
do so ; but this request was refused by him, and he added that he 
would give him other commissions more suited to his talents. 

Niebuhr' s friends in Holstein could hardly trust their eyes, when 
he wrote them word that he was drilling for the army, and that 
his wife entered with equal enthusiasm into his feelings. The 
greatness of the object had so inspired Madame Niebuhr, who was 
usually anxious, even to a morbid extent, at the slightest imagin- 
able peril for the husband in whom she might truly be said to live, 



PROFESSORSHIP IN EERLIN. 219 

that she was willing and ready to bring even her most precious 
treasure as a sacrifice to her country. 

In the mean time, however, that he might at least do some- 
thing, if only indirectly, for the good cause, Niebuhr established a 
journal, under the sanction of the Prussian government, entitled 
the " Prussian Correspondent," the name of which expresses its 
object. He edited it himself, until he was, after a short time, 
called to head-quarters. He resumed the editorship several times 
afterward, but never for long together, because he was so fre- 
quently summoned in other directions. During the intervals, when 
the journal was conducted by other hands, some very bitter articles 
appeared against Denmark, which excited his strong displeasure, 
but for which he has nevertheless been much blamed in that 
country, where it was supposed that he was responsible for their 
insertion. 

Extracts from Niebuhr 's Letters from the Summer q/"1810 
to the Spring of 1813. 

CXXTX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 1st October, T810. 

Zelter says that Goethe is at work on his biography, and means after- 
ward to continue Wilhelm Meister. Zelter has been studying his Questions 
upon Music, and declares that he, not being at all musical, not even having 
learnt music, will yet bring forward a doctrine of acoustics, which is pro- 
found, quite novel, and in his opinion convincing. Here, also, he discovers 
the law of diverging tendencies. Is not this an extraordinary triumph of 
genius ? Goethe has seen the King of Holland, and they are mutually 
pleased with each other. 

I have offered my services to the Minister Dohna, with whom I am, as 
you know, on a footing of friendship, to organize the affairs of the provinces, 
but my name is not to be mentioned. I have already finished a consider- 
able part of this work, and given it in. If it should be carried into actual 
operation, I should hope to feel myself of sufficient use, for my conscience 
to be easy about the receipt of my salary. 

I have been unwell for some time with low fever, but it is going off. 

cxxx. 

Berlin, 13th October, 1810. 

We are gradually making our arrangements for a more settled mode of 
life. My Milly has arranged all my books upon the shelves with much 
care and industry, which is worth a great deal to me. I buy a good many 
books at auctions now, so that my library enlarges every week 

Within the last few weeks we have seen Savigny several times. He 
seems inclined to be very friendly with me, and I fancy we shall get in- 



220 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

tiraate when we have known each other longer. His wife is very lively 
and pleasing. 

I have bought at an auction a bundle of pamphlets written in the six- 
teenth, and beginning of the seventeenth century. If, in a collection 
formed so fortuitously, we find many things that are excellent, and none 
that are positively bad, we can not but conceive a respect for the age that 
produced them. This collection contains a string of apophthegms, under 
the title of "New and True Gazette for the year 1620." Our literature 
has not, since its revival, recovered the truthful and earnest spirit which 
they breathe, although it has taken a higher flight. What does this profit 
us ? It is now the delight of a few ; formerly it was an expression of the 
national character ; and we may justly call the period from Luther to the 
Thirty Years' War, the golden age of Protestant Germany. 

I agree with you, that it is better not to read books in which you make 
the acquaintance of the devil. I have been reading criminal trials lately, 
and have seen how judges and accusers have come to look on the most 
hardened and crafty criminals as objects of interest. But no danger of 
this kind can arise from reading a poetical work. In general the danger 
springs from the way in which vices are made to border on virtues, and 
the two are mingled together in characters, so that you rarely find any 
one so abandoned as to have no good sides to his character when you look 
closely into it, and hence you are apt to show him undue indulgence. 

Amelia's eyes are again very weak ; and you will therefore receive only 
a short postscript from her, for she can only write by daylight, and it is 
already some time since dinner. Her cough is rather more tolerable, but 
not gone. 

CXXXI. 

Berlin, 9th November, 1810. 
Milly has already answered your questions about my lectures, while I 
was at our philological society yesterday, so that I can only glean after 

her She has told you that the number of my hearers was much 

greater than I had anticipated. But their character, no less than their 
number, is such as encourages and animates me to pursue my labors with 
zeal and perseverance. You will feel this when I tell you that Savigny, 
Schleiermacher, Spalding, Ancillon, Nicolavius, Schmedding, and Suvern 
were present. In reply to your other question, I must tell you that I am 
more satisfied with them myself than with any of my former productions ; 
(I have quite remodeled the introduction.) This is, no doubt, partly ow- 
ing to the universal approbation they call forth, which is a great stimulus 
and high enjoyment to me. For besides the number and selectness of my 
audience, the general interest evinced in the lectures exceeds my utmost 
hopes. My introductory lecture produced as strong an impression as an 
oration could have done ; and all the dry erudition which followed it, in 
the history of the old Italian tribes, which serves as an introduction to 
that of Home, has not driven away even my unlearned hearers. The 
attention with which Savigny honors me, and his declaration that I am 
opening a new era for Roman history, naturally stimulate my ardent de- 
sire to carry out to the full extent the researches which one is apt to leave 
half-finished, as soon as one clearly perceives the result to which they tend, 
in order to turn to something fresh. That it is impossible, with two hours 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 221 

a week, to present the history of Rome in due proportions in the course of 
a single winter, I am quite aware ; and yet I would on no account com- 
press what I have to say ; for it is precisely this vivid, life-like representa- 
tion of a multitude of well-defined objects, winch constitutes the excellence 
of any historical work, that aims to rise above mediocrity. As far as I 
can, I compose the whole in manuscript in such a way that it may serve 
as the basis of a work, suited for publication. For I must begin to think 
of publishing now, because it is while 1 am delivering my lectures that my 
best discoveries in ancient history come to light, which, if not published, 
might probably be forgotten, and lost to the world. In addition to my 
previous discoveries, which are now all gaming in clearness and certainty, 
I have already made several new ones, some of which are very important, 
in the progress of my labors. 

Our little philological association will not degenerate. We are reading 
and emendating Herodotus. I explain the historical, others the grammat- 
ical part, and thus we really form a miniature academy. 

CXXXII. 

• Berlin, 24th November, 1810. 

I advance but slowly with my lectures, and shall have to stop far from 
the goal ; but I discover much that, to me at least, appears interesting ; 
for instance, the cyclical system of the old Italian mode of reckoning the 
years is new. The Mexican mode of chronology gave me a light upon 
this point. I have collected a great number of data tending to confirm 
my long-cherished view, that the West of Europe possessed a primitive 
and quite peculiar cultivation — a system of science strictly speaking — be- 
fore it had received any influences from the East. I would rather write to 
you about things of this kind, than of what we see, and hear, and witness. 

I have received a commission which some might think important, but 
to me appears of very little consequence — to draw up a Constitution for 
the Academy of Science, in conjunction with Ancillon and some others. 
I like Savigny very much, and he seems to have a great regard for me too. 
Our respective studies lead us over the same ground, so that we have 
much to talk over and exchange with each other. I felt diffident when I 
first heard that he was among my hearers, but his extraordinary interest 
in my lectures is the most favorable sentence that could be pronounced on 
them, as he is certainly better acquainted with their subject than any other 
of our contemporaries. 

7 th December. — Since writing the above I have been at work on the 
Constitution of the Academy, with the view of completely remodeling it. 
I have also read a paper in the Academy lately. You see that I am ful- 
filling my engagement to you, and writing more than I read. May all go 
well with you, and Gretchen speedily recover ! 

CXXXIII. 

Berlin, 19th March, 1810. 
With a little more quiet my position would be one more com- 
pletely in accordance with my wishes than I have long ventured even to 
hope for. There is such real mutual attachment between my acquaintances 
and myself, and our respective studies give such an inexhaustible interest 
to conversation, that I now really possess in this respect what I used to 



222 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

feel the want of; for intercourse of this kind is quickening and instructive. 
The lectures themselves, too, are inspiriting, because they require persever- 
ing researches, which I venture to say can not remain unfruitful to me, and 
they are more exciting than mere literary labors, because I deliver them 
with the warmth inspired by fresh thoughts and discoveries, and afterward 
converse with those who have heard them, and to whom they are as new 
as to myself. This makes the lectures a positive delight to me, and I feel 
already quite averse to bring them to a close. What I should like would 
be to have whole days of perfect solitude, and then an interval of inter- 
course with the persons I really like, but not to remain for so many hours 
together with them as is customary here. This is the very land of calls 
and parties. Even our Friday meeting I would sometimes rather be with- 
out, though it has always hitherto done me good. It would scarcely be 
possible to have less frivolity or dullness in a mixed society. Schleier- 
macher is the most intellectual man among them. The complete absence 
of jealousy among these scholars is particularly gratifying. 

My historical researches seem to me to gain in importance every week, 
and I hope to solve enigmas in the history and constitution of Ptome, which 
my predecessors have either labored at in vain, or passed over in silence. 
Much is wanting, indeed, to the formation of a history, and I shall not 
give my work to the world as such 

CXXXIV. 

Berlin, in March, 1811. 
Milly has already written to you about your skepticism with re- 
gard to the existence of in-born, incorruptible integrity, unswayed by 
motives of self-interest. I should be shocked at it, were I not already 
aware of your holding other similar opinions which belong to the same 
theory as this. Yet you can have no doubts with regard to your* own 
motives ; and without asking whether I too may not defy any suspicion 
of the kind through the whole course of my life — whether self-interest of 
any sort has ever had charms for me — I will point you to other examples. 
You yourself are convinced that there is an innate difference in talents, at 
least in man as he exists in the actual world. Now even granting that 
this arises solely from organization, and that this organization is from the 
beginning something external and foreign to the individual, and that its 
consequences do not affect the spiritual unity of man's nature ; still among 
actual living men one individual is essentially different from another. In 
one, certain tendencies predominate from the first, in another, opposite 
ones. This can not be denied by any one. In one man, we see disinter- 
estedness from his earliest childhood ; in another, covetousness. In most 
cases these tendencies may be controlled or suppressed ; a large majority 
of men may become utterly corrupt ; but the man who has an innate love 
of justice, who would scorn to oppress or injure another, will resist the 
external influences of his condition in life, especially where he might reap 
a base advantage for himself. It must indeed be admitted, that ambitious 
pretensions may dazzle and take a firm hold of minds, noble in themselves, 
but narrow in their views, and we will forgive them for it morally, as la- 
boring under a mischievous delusion. But no moderately honest man can 
say, "Others shall become poor that I may remain rich;" and whoever 
6ays this, to himself or aloud, is not one whit better than a thief. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 223 

Who could have the heart to sit as a judge in criminal cases, if he lis- 
tened to the voice of such sophistry : " Behold ! the criminal whom thou 
art about to condemn— to render wretched for his whole life, if not to de- 
prive of that life — is at bottom no worse than thou. Had he been born 
and brought up in thy condition, he would sit on thy seat of judgment ; 
and thou, in his place, wouldst have stood before the tribunal to answer 
for thy crimes !" "No," answers the just man, "I will not deny my 
sins, nor that I might be rightfully judged by my superior — I might have 
committed greater faults than have actually occurred — but that I could 
never have become base I know, as I know my own existence, for it is a 
part of my existence, which is no mere transcendental, colorless ' I am.' " 
No one can be further than I am from the proud belief in an absolute 
freedom of will belonging to all human beings ; for the will can be exer- 
cised only by means of, and with thought -, and can we think as we will — 
or do we think as it is given to us ? Thus, too, I believe only in a limit- 
ed force of will, to every one according to his kind, and his original pecul- 
iar impulses. These impulses may be in some individuals so bad, so de- 
cidedly wicked, that in their wickedness, in the lawfulness of exterminating 
so deformed a- creature, lie the right and the duty to inflict the penalty of 
death in cases which legislators no longer punish with severity. In others, 
every thing is so undecided and weak, that they can never attain to more 
than habits, with regard to all that is not purely animal ; and these habits, 
even when good, testify to no intrinsic virtue. You may be perfectly right, 
as far as such persons are concerned, in saying that their disinterestedness 
— a quality, however, very rare in people of this kind — occupies a place in 
which other circumstances might have planted covetousness and shameless 
arrogance. But no one can have less right to extend this verdict to the 
generality of men than you, whose strong and beautiful soul certainly pos- 
sessed within itself the capacity for becoming what it is, however we may 
allow that external circumstances may have helped to enrich it. But 
circumstances were favorable to you, only as they are to the pine, which 
possesses within itself the strength to entwine its roots among the rocks, 
and to spring into the ah from the mountain peak. 

You have often wounded me, and done me injustice by the assertion 
that my strictness of judgment is dictated by party feeling. Yet in spite 
of this condemnation you whl hardly accuse me seriously of unwarrantable 
palliation of faults, which, however, is always presupposed in party opin- 
ions ; the one never exists without the other. The degree of danger, of 
injury, of conscious responsibility, may render our judgment of an action 
milder or severer ; the hearer must weigh this, and calculate its worth. 
It is impossible to feel an equal amount of indignation, toward a band of 
poisoners, or of incendiaries in Turkey, and one in the city where we live ; 
for, in the latter case, the impression which gives rise to our feeling multi- 
plies itself, and a human weakness mixes with it some dim apprehension 
of personal danger. But I should be a childish novice, unworthy to believe 
myself capable of writing history — which means, in fact, to depict and 
pass sentence on the past as if it were the present — or of conducting 
business, if a thing appeared to me good or bad, according as it came from 
the east or the west. The financial legislation of Austria, for instance, 
is evidently dictated, like all her measures, by honorable intentions, and 
is not intended to favor the nobility, or any other class — any unfairness 



224 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

which may have crept in, is so slight as not to he worth mentioning — yet 
it is so perverted and ruinous that it has made me almost as angry as the 
projects of the Notables among us, only with this difference, that anger is 
much sooner appeased in this case than where selfishness is the root of 
the evil. 

And now something else, as I have still room. Have you ever heard 
of Goethe's inaugural disputation, and of a theological essay, which he 
wrote in his youth ? I first heard of them lately, and have had the latter 
in my possession (since Boje's auction) without knowing that it is his. 
In this he proves, not in jest, but to the full conviction of all truth-loving 
readers, that it was not the Ten Commandments, but the ten fundamental 
laws of the distinctive peculiarities of the Israelites, which were inscribed 
on the tables of the law. This was also the subject of his inaugural dis- 
putation, which he wished to publish at Strasburg, where he took his de- 
gree. The heads of the University, however, considered it as profane, and 
denied their permission. The second half of the essay, in which .be ex- 
plains the phrase u to speak with tongues," is very remarkable, because it 
is quite mystical, and belongs to that strange period of his life in which 
he was a mystic 

cxxxv. 

Berlin, 18th May, 1811. 

You have no doubt seen Oehlenschlager : what impression has he 

made upon you ? The Danes undoubtedly possess poetical talents, if they 
were not so deficient in clearness and penetration of mental vision, with- 
out which the imagination can never create pure and great conceptions, 
free from mannerisms, as well as from Oriental phantasms. 

I am now approaching the conclusion of my lectures, and the printing 
is about to commence. I begin it with a thorough consciousness of what 
is in my book, and of the rank it will hold at some future day ; but I am 
not quite easy as to its immediate reception, partly because I am aware 
that the execution might and ought to be improved in many respects, 
partly because no one is allowed to bring forward novelties before our 
public with impunity, however clearly their correctness may be proved. 
Then I have already enjoyed, for the most part, the reception given to it 
by affection, from Savigny and other friends : that of disapprobation is 
still to come. I have written with such strict conscientiousness — not 
merely with regard to the praise and blame I have dispensed, but also 
with respect to the historical researches — that I could die on this book. 
It certainly will furnish little reading for recreation, and I confess to my- 
self that by the side of many passages successful in point of style, there 
are others very awkward and stiff. The great merit of the book lies in 
the criticism of history, and in the light thrown on many insulated points 
of the constitution, laws, &c. You will understand that I talk to you 
about my work, because at present I am living wholly in it. You will 
hear all the less of it when I come to see you. To-day the publisher has 
sent me Frederick Schlegel's lectures ; I have dipped into them here and 
there, and received a pleasant impression. He incontestably possesses 
genuine talent, and he has freed himself from that unhappy taste which 
he formerly did so much to promote. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 225 

CXXXVI. 

Hamburgh, 11th September, 1811. 

The president of the court of justice, De Serre,* is spoken of 

in the highest terms. He is so completely master of the German language 
that he opened his first sitting with an address in German, which gives 
the consolatory pledge that all proceedings at law will be carried on in the 
language of the country. In a party of Germans, a short time since, he 
defended Klopstock from the attacks of his fellow-townsmen, adding, in- 
dignantly, that no one should dare to speak of him who had not a pure 
heart himself. It appears as if the French courts of justice had, in gen- 
eral, retained all the respectability of the old parliaments. 

I have no inclination to write to you of political facts and rumors. Let 
us know every particular about yourself and your employments. Yester- 
day the Behrenses also will have left you. I fancy you will have found 
your house oppressive, and sought the open air. Do not chase away the 
image of your absent friends, when it rises up with longing before you ; 
do not despise its companionship. But perhaps I do you injustice ; and 
you know how to retain as well as endure the feeling of separation. Give 
our love to Gretchen, and all our friends. We shall not be able to write 
to you from Berlin for a week to come 

CXXXVII. 

Berlin, 5tk October, 1811. 
Hilly has told you of the anxiety caused us by the detention of your 
letter ; we have received it to-day by the Russian post. If we were able 
to write freely, I should have much to tell you worth relating, though it 
does not immediately concern ourselves. However, it is impossible to be 
quite silent respecting things on which our fate and external repose de- 
pend, even if this letter should be opened. During our absence the public 
alarm and excitement have been great, but there has been no talk of the 
departure of the court, or of packing up at the palace, as you were told. 
Preparations for war have been made, and, as this has been done in imi- 
tation of the French, it has excited attention on both sides. As I told 
you in my last, we found the public mind unexpectedly calmed down, and 
the report was current that the Emperor had written an autograph letter 
containing an assurance of his friendly intentions. Now this letter has, 
in all probability, merely existed in the heads of some who thought them- 
selves bound to keep the public free from uneasiness, even by deceit ; this 
much only is certain, that the Count St. Marsan had an audience of the 
King, and that in consequence the preparations which were in progress 
have been suspended. The main question, the maintenance of peace be- 
tween France and Russia, is still as undecided as before. Some affirm 
that Austria is engaged in active negotiations, and that the winter will 
pass over without war. Others draw an entirely opposite inference from 

* This Count de Serre became, many years after in Rome, one of Niebuhrs 
dearest friends. His family had emigrated from France in 1791, when he was 
sixteen years of age, and settled in Germany. He thus became early acquaint- 
ed with German literature, and he seems to have bad by nature a cast of mind 
more German than French. He supported himself for some years by keeping 
a school, till Napoleon made him president of the Court of Appeal in Hamburgh, 
after that city had been incorporated with France. 



226 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

circumstances that are known, and from an unprejudiced consideration of 
circumstances, which we can scarcely expect to be overlooked by him on 
on whose will the decision depends. 

If, however, I do not reckon as confidently as many on a quiet winter. 
I am not much disturbed about the matter, and freely give myself up to 
the enjoyment of the quiet that has hitherto been unexpectedly pro- 
longed. 

My lectures will recommence at the end of the month, and I must be 
preparing for them. The journey has certainly put me out a little, but I 
shall soon get into train again; the being too long engaged with one sub- 
ject is a more dangerous enemy ; both because one's interest may relax, 
and because one contracts an habitual mode of looking at things, whereby 
the work loses a part of its distinctness — the worker his susceptibility to 
new impressions. I shall have to guard against both dangers, particularly 
at first, for their publication has certainly to me stripped the charm of 
novelty from the subjects of my history. I shall not hurry the composition 
of the second volume, that my mind may remain fresh. 

This morning we have been to see the Museum of Natural History, 
which is being formed here under Uliger's direction, and is really a very 
splendid one. I do not know whether it is my own fault that such collections 
suggest no pious thoughts to me ? The infinite variety of nature is brought 
too close to one ; and in its contemplation the individual vanishes entirely 
from view ; only the species remains, and one asks one's self, why should 
it be otherwise with man ? Besides, the melancholy-looking, as well as 
the ugly animals give me a very painful impression. Yet I could will- 
ingly linger there, and can only console myself for my ignorance, as 
compared to the learning of naturalists, by reflecting that, after all, they 
confine themselves so exclusively to the external side of things, that their 
knowledge would only give one hints for investigation, and but little in- 
sight. 

I have begun to attend our philological party again. There are two of 
its members wanting, whom we all miss very much, Spalding and Hein- 
dorf. 

cxxxvtii. 

Berlin, 1st November, 1811. 

So Goethe's life has come out, and I shall have it in a few days. It 
always gives me a melancholy feeling when a great man writes his life. 
It is already evening with him then, and that he relates how he lived, 
shows that he no longer lives quite from the root. Else he could never do 
it. Jacobi's book is not yet out ; as far as I know, can indeed hardly be 
looked for yet. I do not know whether I can rejoice in its appearance. 
When he was in his prime he felt, very rightly, that the spirit of his phi- 
losophy required to be presented in a visible shape, in the picture of a life, 
just as the philosophy itself does not separate the formal from the real ; in 
an abstract, systematic shape, it will not be like itself. 

I enjoy my lectures for their own sake. I should like to deliver several 
more courses. My audience is much less numerous than it was last win- 
ter ; there are only about sixty, and among them several officers. I do not 
know whether I may reckon this as a confirmation of the favorable opinion 
I have often expressed of this class. There are many elements of good 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 227 

among us striving for life— of a better spirit than existed in happier times. 
There are heavings under the heavy burden, and though we may have evil 
days still before us, yet a better time must follow than that which suc- 
ceeded to the misery of the Thirty Years' War. Nonsense of all kinds has 
been so brought to the test, and become so powerless, that, at last, sense 

must necessarily take its place, be it under what form it may 

Have you heard that Madame de Stael has received an intimation not to 
hold intercourse with Schlegel ? A violent resentment against him reigns 
at the French court, because it is supposed that it was he who inspired her 
to praise the German literature. Her praise has done us a bad service in 
France ; for to it is owing the animosity against German literature, which 
lies at the bottom of the regulations concerning the publishing trade in the 
new Departments.* The German literature is considered as hostile to the 
French, as an intellectual power which proudly refuses to the latter the 
homage due to that of the victorious nation. The French translation of 
the "Lectures on the Drama, 1 ' is prohibited ; and some consider this as a 
just punishrneni of Schlegel for having said he would not indeed use the 
French language for poetry ; but for prose, he would use that which was 
most widely read 

CXXXIX. 

Berlin, 16th November, 1811. 

When it came into my head to say to you that autobiography in gen- 
eral was the song of the swan — and Goethe's no exception — I certainly 
made too sweeping an assertion. With him, at least, youth has been re- 
newed by the contemplation of his youth, and if he should write nothing 
like it again, he has written nothing like it for a long time past. The pic- 
ture of his life is inimitably sweet and graceful. I feel sure that we can 
not differ in our judgment of this book. The number of trifles it relates 
will not annoy you — you will fancy him narrating, and it is the peculiar 
charm of the style that you can really feel as if he were telling you the 
whole. The story of his first love is exquisitely beautiful ; no second equal 
to it can occur in the history, and I should not be sorry if the book were to 
remain unfinished. 

Our life flows on in its uniform course without change. On Friday, I at- 
tend my society ; four days a week I hear Schleiermacher ; two days I lec- 
ture myself ; we seldom go into company, and visits at our own house take 
up much less time than they did last winter. I might do a great deal in 
consequence, but I can not boast 

One evening in the week, the Savignys and ourselves generally 

spend together ; and we often spend an evening with one or other of our 
friends besides — at Prince Radziwill's, for instance. 

CXL. 

Berlin, 29th November, 1811. 

I have been for some time past disturbed by something in 

Schleiermacher's lectures, which could not come out so plainly in the first 

* Publishers in the parts of Germany that were incorporated with France 
were obliged to submit all books to a censorship before bringing them out, and 
works containing any passages which could be construed into expressions of 
hostility to France or French interests, were liable to be prohibited. 



228 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

part, and certainly enables me to comprehend the unfavorable impression 
entertained of him by some noble-minded men, which used to give me pain, 
as I thought it unfounded. Schleiermacher does not content himself with 
bare notices of the various philosophical teachers 5 he brings them into con- 
nection, and endeavors to trace out the fundamental idea of each of the 
ancient philosophers. This is as it ought to be 5 but it is a very difficult 
and critical matter to pursue such investigations, and requires that you 
should divest yourself of your own views ; the necessity of which he him- 
self inculcated in his introduction most impressively, but which he does not 
put in practice. It is my firm belief that he acts with perfect honesty in 
the matter, and that those who dispute his strict integrity in such, or any 
other cases, do him wrong; nevertheless, he appears to me to be in error. 
Though he does not indeed always attribute to the ancient philosophers 
that pantheistic view, which regards matter merely as a phenomenon, and 
yet calls a Cause of the world external to matter an absurdity, he con- 
stantly refers to this view as to the primitive one, from which the various 
systems gradually departed, although it was only presented originally in 
poetical works. He also speaks of Anaxagoras, who first taught that 
Reason was an independent order of the universe, with a distaste, almost 
amounting to animosity, which has made a very painful impression on me, 
little as I am inclined to implicit faith. According to him, too, the early 
Ionian philosophers, the most elevated of all those who clothed their faith 
in the form of the popular religion, did not act sincerely in so doing. "With 
these drawbacks, I like his lectures much — they revive many recollections 
of the wisdom of the ancients, and contain much which I have never yet 
read. If we still possessed Herodotus and the earliest philosophers, we 
should recognize at what an infinite height they stood above Plato and the 
later philosophers. Schleiermacher probably feels this too, with much more 
capability of exploring the recesses of the subject than I possess, and yet, 
on the other hand, there is something in him which repels him from them, 
and that is what I would rather not have perceived. 

When you receive your own copy of my History, give the one you have 
now to Gretchen. 

It may be interesting to see Goethe's opinion of Niebuhr's His- 
tory of Rome, as expressed in the following letter to him, on re- 
ceiving a copy of the first part of the work. 

FROM GOETHE TO NIEBUHR. 

H I have often sinned against my friends and well-wishers by the delay 
of my answers, I will rather, for this once, be somewhat premature, and 
thank you, even before I have received your work, for the pleasure you have 
given me by your letter. You bear a name which I have learnt to honor 
from my youth up, and of yourself, I have heard from many friends, so 
much that is amiable, excellent, and distinguished, that 1 feel as though I 
already knew you well, and can sincerely assure you that I have a great 
desire to make your personal acquaintance. 

In the mean time, the work which you announce to me will afford me 
an agreeable and instructive occupation; for what can be more attractive 
than to find a subject, which has been so often and so variously discussed, 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 229 

placed in a new light, and, as it were, born into a fresh life, by means of 
new researches ? However rarely it has been permitted to me, in the course 
of my life, to occupy myself with topics which interest me so deeply, I 
know well how to value those who have the talent and perseverance to 
undertake such enterprises. 

I hope you will accept kindly these hasty thanks, and continue to think 
of me with friendship. 

G OK THE. 

Jena, November 27th, 1811. 

I brought this letter with me from Jena to Weimar, where I found your 
excellent work awaiting me, and immediately began to read it. Now I 
have finished it, and should like, before I begin it over again (which is most 
necessary in order to understand and profit by it), to express my thanks, 
not merely in general terms as a first impression, but in detail as they have 
been called forth by the various points in your work. Very probably, how- 
ever, a considerable time might elapse ere I should be able to do this, and 
with the best will in the world, I might be forced to detain this sheet still 
longer. Permit me, therefore, to say no more than that I have felt myself 
transported to the time of my own visit to Rome, when all around me 
impressed me perpetually with the want of such researches, while at every 
step I became too clearly aware how little capable I, no less than others, 
was of conducting them. Since then, a long time has passed, during which 
I have continued to turn my attention to these subjects ; and your book, 
which solves so many enigmas at once, is most welcome. 

We can now picture to ourselves the condition of Italy before the Roman 
period, and form a clear idea of the order in which, so to speak, the various 
strata of population were deposited one above another. Your discrimina- 
tion of the poetical from the historical element is of inestimable worth, 
since by it neither is destroyed, but rather for the first time fully confirmed 
in its true value and dignity ; and there is an inexhaustible interest in see- 
ing how the two again coalesce, and exert a mutual influence. It is much 
to be wished that all similar phenomena in the history of the world may be 
treated in the same method. Does it need many words to assure you that 
I have derived the utmost instruction, from your development of the posi- 
tion of the State and of its finances, of its relations to Greece, of the 
anarchical condition of Ptome after the expulsion of the kings — in short, 
from all and every part. Were I to go into detail, and to speak of your 
description of Ancus Martius, of your unvailing of the Sibylline books, or 
to dwell upon the poems of Lucretia and Coriolanus, I should have to write 
book upon book, and these sheets would never reach the post. Rest assured 
that you have sent me a noble gift, for which I shall all my life feel grate- 
ful to you ; that I am looking forward to the continuation with the great- 
est eagerness, and, in order to render myself worthy of it, am making your 
first volume thoroughly my own by the most diligent study. 

May I ask you to give some attention to the inclosed papers, and espe- 
cially to procure for me the autograph of your honored father. Recom- 
mending myself once more to your kind remembrance and friendly sym- 
pathy. Goethe. 
Weimar, 17 th December, 1811. 



230 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 



CXLI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 14th January, 1812. 

I do not take M.'s verdict in bad part. The two grejat Greek 

historians are essentially episodical, and if I wrote better than I do, I 
should, no doubt, place and connect the episodes with more art, but there 
would certainly be rather more than fewer of them. For do we see a 
country by merely traveling throught it on the most direct post roads, or 
by deviating frequently from the route, while keeping to one main direc- 
tion ? 

CXLII. 

Berlin, 28th January, 1812. 

The censure passed by some upon the inequality of my style was not 
unexpected. I can not trust myself to decide whether it is deserved or not. 
You are well aware that the style, such as it- is. is the unsought-for expres- 
sion of my thoughts at the moment, and never affected. That inequality 
is not a fault in itself, and that the simplicity of a chronicle may stand 
side by side with poetry in the same historical work, I am ready to main- 
tain against any one ; for there is much that is only rendered bearable by 
the greatest simplicity of expression, but with that becomes even good ; 
and then, again, there are parts where the clearness of your inward vision 
raises your style to what is called poetical. In this sense, Thucydides is 
unequal, so unequal that, even in ancient times, critics have doubted 
whether the eighth book was his composition ; and how unequal is Demos- 
thenes in one and the same oration ! Must not the style naturally follow 
the change of the subject ? Cicero is very uniform ; I think not altogether 
to his praise. For uniformity is the color which the writer lays on ; though 
I allow that a great author may have such a perfect command over his 
subject as to bring even the most dissimilar parts into one ground tone 
without injury, as Tacitus has done in his latest work, the "Annals :" with 
the modern writers, however, who have attempted this, objective truth is 
utterly lost. Should I some day, when the first volumes are quite com- 
pleted, be able to prepare a new edition, I will conscientiously examine 
whether I have caught the right tone for each passage ; I may have failed 
in this respect, but I can not judge of it at present. However, the judg- 
ment of the reader on this point does not trouble me much ; few, if I 
may venture to say so, are familiar with the true antique style, and can 
enter into its spirit when presented to them under a new form : and as 
such, in fact, I regard the varying tone of my discourse. Does not Shaks- 
peare give us the most commonplace language in one scene, and, in the 
next, the highest poetry? Is it possible, for instance, to relate the Bava- 
rian War of Succession, and the struggle of Thermopylae, with the same 
cast of expression ? 

I am not quite satisfied with the few first sheets of the second volume, 
which are now printed ; they are wanting in life and movement. It is a 
bad thing to be obliged to force oneself to work of this kind ; industry we 
can command, but the state of mind comes from God and from without. 
Meanwhile, the contents are not bad. I am continually finding confirm- 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 231 

ations and developments of ray fundamental views. In ray lectures I have 
just been relating the story of Pyrrhus with real pleasure ; he has always 
been my favorite hero * 

CXLIII. 

Berlin, 6th March, 1812. 

I thank you for the sympathy expressed by your anxiety about my health, 
but there is no cause for uneasiness. It is not likely that I shall be really 
and permanently well before the spring. There is some one ill in every 
house ; nearly all my acquaintances are more or less unwell, low-spirited, 
and good for nothing. I fear that the traces of my present state will be 
only too visible in my book 

So Miiller's Letters have made as agreeable an impression upon you as 
they did upon Savigny ; but with him this impression has not proved lasting. 

I have not seen them yet, because I do not choose to buy them. They 
will be as remarkable as those to Bonstetten, but I can not blind myself 
to the fact that, from his earliest youth, Miiller's f feelings and opinions 
were made up. The pure vital breath and freshness of truth are wanting 
in all his writings. He had an extraordinary talent for assmning a char- 
acter, and maintaining it with consistency, till he changed it again for 
another ; but, after reading his writings on the Bellum Cimbricum, it would 
have been clear to me, from, now to the day of judgment, that he had no 
native solidity of character, even had I never seen him. There was no 
harmony in him, and the sources of his power gradually dried up as he ad- 
vanced in age. His talents marked him out for a literary man in the nar- 
rowest sense of the term ; historical criticism was utterly foreign to him ; 
his imagination had no wide range, and the unexampled multitude of facts 
which he accumulated, remained in reality a lifeless and unorganized mass 
in his head. Forgive me for this verdict : you will not suspect that I, who 
am only just coming forward as an historical author, would willingly say 
any thing in disparagement of the man who enjoys the highest celebrity 
among us in this department : though he is hardly read at all, and the 
worthlessness of his " Universal History" is acknowledged even by his ad- 
mirers 

CXLIV. 

Berlin, 2lst April, 1812. 
Again your letter has come a day too late. Though we could not have 

* In the latter part of this letter, and in the next, dated 22d February, he 
gives an account of a serious illness he had about this time. 

t Johannes von Muller, the celebrated author of the " Universal History" and 
the " History of Switzerland," the first German historian who attained literary 
excellence in the treatment of his subject. The great blot upon his character 
is his abandonment of his country's cause, and espousing the French interests in 
the calamitous days of October, 1806. He had drawn up the Prussian manifesto 
before the battle of Jena, and when the French entered Berlin on the 27th Octo- 
ber, he was the first to announce his adhesion to the Emperor Napoleon. When 
the news of the battles of Jena and Auerstadt reached Berlin, and it was evident 
that the authorities must remove northward, Niebuhr called on Muller to propose 
that they should travel together to Stettin. Muller, who had not long before been 
appointed historiographer, and had just comfortably settled himself and his library 
in his residence, replied, pointing round to his precious books, "Alas! traveling 
is out of the question for me ; look at these ; what can I do 1" " The man who 
can think of his books now is a scoundrel !" muttered Niebuhr indignantly, as 
he turned on his heel. 



232 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

concluded with certainty, from the delay, that it had been opened, its ap- 
pearance left no doubt on this point. This must, however, explain and 
justify to you my silence respecting our hopes and fears, even when they 
positively concern our own fate. Besides, all my knowledge is confined 
to mere rumors. The impending stroke is preparing with a most undeni- 
ably judicious secrecy. All that I can say — and that is rather based upon 
calculation than positive testimony — is, that none of the reports about 
the possible continuance of peace deserve any attention. The armies are 
collecting from all sides. Such enormous masses of men have never before 
been brought against each other in the whole course of modern history, in- 
deed never since the Crusades and the migration of races. The long con- 
tinuance of winter weather may a little delay the opening of the campaign ; 
for in East Prussia they are still using sledges, and when the frost breaks, 
the state of the roads will prevent any rapid operations for a few weeks. 

Dumas is here as Intendant-general of the army. I met him at the 
Princess Radziwill's and we have since exchanged visits. Nicolovius has 
invited him and me to dine at his house to-day. He is very friendly, and 
inquires very particularly after all his friends in Holstein. 

And now we will retire from the outward world into our own private one. 
Milly is constantly unwell without being positively weak. But it pains 
and alarms me that the physician does not seem to know what measures 
to take for her relief. Her cough remains just the same in spite of all 
remedies. I am rather better than for some weeks past. 

I have now finished the most difficult part of my book — the Roman law 
respecting the public lands. 

I have felt the death of old Hegewisch deeply. So his fainting fits last 
summer were the beginning of his gradual decay. People in Germany were 
no longer just to him. His best writings were forgotten 

CXLV. 

Berlin, 16th June, 1812. 

It will be an evil omen to you that Milly' s pain in the eyes continues, 
when you see, on opening this letter, that she has again left me the greater 
part of the space. It is even so, &c 

We are reading Wilhelm Meister at present, as fast as my want of prac- 
tice in reading aloud will permit. I had never before been able to take 
any pleasure in this book, and was curious to see if it would be different 
now, as in middle age we are less one-sided than in youth, and can enjoy 
relative and separate beauties, even when the whole does not make an 
agreeable or overpowering impression on us. But it is the same as ever 
with me. Our language possesses, probably, nothing more elaborate or 
more perfect in style (excepting Klopstock's "Republic of Letters") ; in 
clearness of outline and vividness of coloring, there is nothing to compare 
with it in our literature ; it contains a multitude of acute remarks and 
magnificent passages ; the situations are managed with extreme ingenuity, 
and all the parts are in admirable keeping ; all this I can appreciate now 
better than formerly. But the unnaturalness of the plot, the violence with 
which what is beautifully sketched and executed in single groups is brought 
to bear upon the development, and mysterious conduct of the whole, the 
impossibilities such a plot involves, and the thorough heartlessness, which 
even makes one linger with the greater interest by the utterly sensual per- 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 233 

sonages, because they do show something akin to feeling ; the villainy or 
meanness of the heroes, whose portraits nevertheless often amuse us — all 
this still makes the book revolting to me, and I get disgusted with such a 
menagerie of tame cattle. 

I* it not your feeling, too, that few things leave a more painful impres- 
sion than for a great spirit to bind its own wings, and seek to excel in the 
lower regions of art, while renouncing the higher ? Goethe is the poet of 
human passion and human greatness under all their manifestations, and 
as such he appears in his early poems. Probably, indeed, he might then 
have made himself master of the whole sphere, to the furthest limits of 
which he was often involuntarily borne on the wings of spontaneous inward 
impulse. He neglected to possess himself of this united realm, which per- 
haps no single intellect had ever ruled with so absolute a sway as might 
have been his, and the wild and fragmentary character of his youthful pro- 
ductions displeased even himself in his riper years. It was chiefly after 
he had studied art, during his travels in Italy, that he strove after unity 
and completeness. His first attempts in this style, and his productions 
from 1786 to 1790, are quite unworthy of him. They simply display a 
thoroughly unpoetical, wearisome reality. But he wished to become a mas- 
ter in this style as well as in others, and to do so, he narrowed his mind. 
To me this is most melancholy. If you study his writings from this time 
forward, you find in nearly all of them a tameness which is quite unnatural 
to him. By degrees, there appears some re-awakening of his native and 
peculiar feelings, particularly with reference to his own inward life, at least 
in recollection ; but the years gone by are lost, and, through them, those 
also which yet remain to him. I hope that he will find his youth restored 
by living through his history again in memory. The second part will be 
certain to come out at Michaelmas. So early as the end of April he went 
t<i Carlsbad, to work there in solitude. They expect him back at Weimar 
this month. We shall not see him now this year, but I shall write to him 
more at length when I send him my second volume. 

The physical sciences had been so exclusively limited to what was visi- 
ble and demonstrable, that a reaction was inevitable as soon as the one- 
sidedness of this was perceived ; now, when you find it said, in so many 
words, in printed books, that a dreaming state is higher than a waking 
one, and that madness is the highest condition of humanity — now the 
charlatans have done their worst, and the ridicule with which they have 
covered themselves, will soon put an end to their trade.* The good will 
then remain, and a considerable interval will elapse before people can re- 
turn to the old one-sided views. For, in truth, it is ever the fate of mod- 
ern nations to oscillate between two follies. 

Have you seen A. W. Schlegel's noble Essay on the old German poetry, 
in the January number of the " Deutches Museum ?" 

I have filled these two pages with the things by which we try to divert 
our attention from the sorrow impending over all. If I could write to you 
on this subject, I should have much to say 

CXLVI. 

Berlin, 27th June, 1812 ; 
You will have seen from the proclamation of the Emperor Napoleon, that 
* This refers to animal magnetism. 



234 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the war has actually begun by this time. We know nothing here as yet 
of the events that have happened. 

We have not yet finished " Wilhelm Meister ;" the latter part pleases 
me no better. Mdlle. Klettenberg is alluded to in the " Confessions of a 
Beautiful Soul." 

You will have seen Stein's arrival in Hamburgh from the newspapers. 
It is said that he is going to St. Petersburg, by invitation of the Emperor. 

We are calm and composed, but not cheerful, still less mirthful, for this 
is a solemn and critical epoch. The war is inflicting no wounds on this 
part of the country, but all is sick enough, and the bleeding provinces 
which have to supply the resources of war, will, in time, infect the capital 
with their fever. The accounts from East Prussia, which had not fully 
recovered from the last war before this new misery began, are enough to 
overwhelm one with grief 

CXLVII. 

Berlin, 11th July, 1812. 

We have no news whatever from the seat of war ; it appears that we 
shall have to learn them first from the pages of the " Moniteur." We 
only know that the whole of the northern French army stands on Russian 
soil. How far the Russians have retreated, whether they make any show 
of offering resistance on any part of the road between the Niemen and the 
Dwina. probably no human being here knows. This utter silence respect- 
ing events of such prodigious magnitude, heightens the terrors of expecta- 
tion. Meanwhile, it enables us to concentrate ourselves more entirely on 
the present, by leaving us leisure for other thoughts and occupations 

I do not even read any thing requiring exertion at present, but, among 
other things, I have taken up Klopstock's '"Correspondence." I find it 
very attractive, and still more instructive. The more you study it, £he 
more materials do you find in it for the intellectual history of our nation ; 
and it exhibits the history of Klopstock's mind, with scarcely a break, from 
the year 1750 onward. In these letters his character appears indescriba- 
bly amiable, sincere, and spotless, which we certainly knew before to be 
the case. They give a singular picture of the period in which his youth 
was passed. Accustomed as we are to great variety and precision of 
thought, the circle of ideas prevailing then seems to us poor and narrow ; 
each one is occupied about himself; all are, we may almost say, ignorant, 
contented, nay, even delighted with things that we should with reason 
pronounce mediocre, and filled with reverence for men who would now be 
thought commonplace ; all of them are so self-important, so convinced 
that their united works must form a golden age of literature. And for 
this reason they have all faded and passed away, except Klopstock, who, 
in his innocence, was far enough from suspecting how little they were his 
equals. There is something really maidenly about him and the best of 
his friends, not only in the good sense of the word, but in that which is 
incompatible with the manly character, particularly in that limitation of 
their range of thought I have mentioned. From the beginning to the end 
of his correspondence, you could not perhaps find a single uncommon, or 
even ingenious idea, nor yet in any of his works, except the " Republic of 
Letters." It is possible that such ideas, like all abstractions, are only 
suggested when the mental harmony is somewhat disturbed, and that he 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 235 

would not have retained that deep peace, in which he always lived, if he 
had attempted to fix his attention voluntarily and exclusively on objects 
of reflection. But how much higher, how near the ancients he might have 
stood, if he had done so — if his cultivation had not been so extremely one- 
sided, and on the whole — to confess the truth — so indolently carried on ! 
I have just been looking at several of the metres he invented, and have 
made a singular discovery. In the beginning of each piece, as you know, 
he marks the metre, and, till now, I have always read his verses as he has 
marked them, and often found them unpleasing, or discovered strophes 
where the measure was not sustained. But this time I have read them 
without reference to his divisions, according to the rules of Greek rhythm, 
with which he was quite unacquainted, and find that they then possess 
the most beautiful cadence of the old Greek poetry. that he had but poured 
into these beautiful forms a corresponding richness of meaning ! For it 
can not be denied that, excepting the lays of his love, his odes do not 
speak to the heart at all, or only address themselves to a few of its emo- 
tions, and never fill and raise the soul as a single verse of a Greek lyric 
poet has power to do. The character of the women, too, is a remarkable 
feature of the times of Klopstock's youth. The cultivation of the mind 
was carried incomparably farther with them, than with nearly all the 
young women of our days ; and this we should scarcely have expected to 
find in the contemporaries of our grandmothers. It was not, therefore, the 
work of our native literature, for that first rose into being along with, and 
under the influence of the love inspired by these charming maidens. For 
some time after the Thirty Years' War the ladies of Germany, particularly 
those of the middle classes, were excessively coarse and uneducated, as is 
proved beyond a doubt by a curious Book of Manners which I have bought 
this winter. This wonderful alteration must have taken place, therefore, 
during the eighty years from 1660 to 1740, though we are quite ignorant 

how and when it began 

Jacobi is certainly right when he says, that it is only existence in motion 
which excites our interest in others — ideas as they rise up ; nothing that 
merely rests in their memory affects our feelings toward them. Perhaps 
it may do so on a first acquaintance, but it soon runs dry, and then such 
friendship is at an end. We can never grow weary of that sound sense 
which on all occasions, great or small, answers to every appeal. 

CXLVIII. 

TO V** 

Berlin, VlthJuly, 1812._ 

To all that you say against a Church union, =& which must end 

either in the subjection of our Church to the domination of the Catholic, or 
the destruction of that which is regarded by the latter as its essential ex- 
cellence, I subscribe with all my heart ; as well as to all that you say on 
the folly of expecting spiritual benefit from the ceremonies of the latter. 
With equal warmth do I sympathize in your indignation against the pseudo- 
Mystics ; not less against those who are a prey to their own over-excited 
feelings, than against those who are enacting a revolting and scandalous 
farce. 

* Referring to the wi.«h, then entertained by many pious persons, for such a 
reform in the Catholic Church, as should enable the Protestant to unite with it. 



236 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

On the other hand, I must confess that I do not coincide in the views 
you have expressed in your essay, respecting that which you also call 
Mysticism, and the philosophy of religion which you recognize as Protest- 
antism. That you may not mistake me, however, and suppose that I lay 
claim to beliefs and feelings which I do not possess — therefore dare not 
even seem to possess — I must just simply repeat to you what, if I mistake 
not, I have said already in the conversation which your friendship has 
deemed it worth while to remember. 

Eaith, properly so called, in a much wider sense than religious faith, it 
is either not given to every nature to possess, or the possibility of its taking 
root and flourishing, may be annihilated by an inharmonious intellectual 
life. The soil may be fertile, but the climate ungenial. My intellect 
early took a skeptical direction. With my whole attention bent upon the 
real and the historical, eager to comprehend, and to get to the bottom of 
every thing, I let my thoughts follow the natural association of ideas, 
without endeavoring to guide them into any particular channel ; and in 
this respect had neither, properly speaking, a truly creative imagination, 
nor any strong feeling of the need of something beyond the boundaries of 
experience to satisfy my heart ; or perhaps I let both perish for want of 
nourishment. Altogether, it was very seldom that the consciousness of a 
thought vanished from my mind in the contemplation of its import and 
object. To this, unquestionably my natural turn of mind, was added the 
influence of miserable religious instruction, and of the living study of clas- 
sical antiquity. Thus, it was in riper years, and through the study of his- 
tory, that I came back for the first time to the sacred books, which I read 
in a purely critical spirit, and with the purpose of studying their contents as 
the groundwork of one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history 
of the world. This was not a mood in which real faith could spring up, 
for it was that of the Protestantism of the present day. I needed no 
Wolfenbiittel Fragments * to discover the discrepancies of the Gospels, and 
the impossibility of even drawing the outlines of a tenable history of the 
life of Jesus by such criticism. In the Messianic allusions to the Old 
Testament, I could recognize no prophecies, and could explain all the pas- 
sages adduced with perfect ease. But here, as in every historical subject, 
when I contemplated the immeasurable gulf between the narrative and the 
facts narrated, this disturbed me no further. He, whose earthly life and 
sorrows were depicted, had for me a perfectly real existence, and his whole 
history had the same reality, even if it were not related with literal ex- 
actness in any single point. Hence also the fundamental fact of miracles 
which, according to my conviction, must be conceded, unless we adopt the 
not merely incomprehensible, but absurd hypothesis, that the Holiest was 
a deceiver, and his disciples either dupes or liars ; and that deceivers had 
preached a holy religion, in which self-renunciation is every thing, and in 
which there is nothing tending toward the erection of a priestly rule — no- 
thing that can be acceptable to vicious inclinations. As regards a miracle 
in the strictest sense, it really only requires an unprejudiced and penetrat- 
ing study of nature, to see that those related are as far as possible from 

* The anonymous fragments on the discrepancies of the Gospel narratives, 
edited by Lessing while head-librarian at Wolfenbiittel. Lessing was long 
supposed to have written them himself, but after his death clear proofs were 
found among his papers that they were from the pen of Reimarus. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 237 

absurdity, and a comparison with legends, or the pretended miracles of 
other religions, to perceive by what a different spirit they are animated. 

According to these statements, I might, perhaps, fairly claim to be called 
a genuine Protestant Christian ; to be recognized by a Church, which does 
not even thrust from her bosom those who make Christ into a cunning 
political aspirant — a skillful charlatan and juggler — men who, it is to be 
hoped, will not die without receiving the punishment of indignant universal 
contempt, and whom you, my respected friend, no doubt likewise despise 
in your heart, mild as your words are with respect to these blasphemers. 
Nevertheless, I can not as yet make this claim for myself, nor would 
Luther recognize it, for I am far from having so firm a faith in these 
objects, so vivid a certainty of them, as of those of historical experience ; 
they are still only in and among my thoughts — not external to, and above 
me. 

In the sense in which many, and in which you in your paper, use the 
term Mystics, you can not, in truth, save the Reformers themselves from 
this name. For are the ideas of incarnation, redemption, divine grace, 
any thing else than mystical ? Mysticism, as I conceive (apart from the 
follies that usurp the name), is nothing else than the belief, that the pious 
man, only capable of longing and striving after a state of faith and Christian 
temper of mind, attains these through a supernatural assistance ; and, 
when he has been made a partaker of them, may receive an illumination 
of the heart and mind, in a manner inexplicable by logic and psychology, 
and to them foolishness. Who can deny that this may give rise to the 
wildest fanaticism ? But, on the other hand, who can deny that people 
the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, have held this 
belief with unshakable confidence, and that the reflection of their faith 
shines out in their writings and deeds ? This mysticism is certainly 
capable of taking such various shapes, that one in whom it is a spon- 
taneous growth, and who has not been born in the Catholic Church, can 
not possibly accommodate his feelings and thoughts to her unity. And 
yet, that it finds more nourishment in the Catholic Church than in ours, 
is also undeniable. Let us turn away from the misguided men, who 
counsel us to restore the piety, of which they have not a conception them- 
selves, by ceremonies and sacrificial rites. But let us not refuse to recog- 
nize, that the Catholic Church speaks to the heart in many things where 
ours is dumb ; that we must not judge of her doctrines (her tyrannical 
hierarchy is another matter) from their degeneration into senseless, heart- 
less, decrepit formalisms ; that a genuine mystic, like Fenelon, might 
develop his spiritual life with the greatest energy within her fold, without 
running the risk of spiritual pride, and enthusiasm in the bad sense, to 
which our Protestant mystics are exposed. Confession may be very un- 
necessary for him who acts sincerely by himself; but so is the sermon, too, 
for such a one ; and after all, is not the latter always destitute of special 
application for the larger part of the hearers, while the former is quite 
personal ? Confession may be addressed to very unworthy ministers, but 
are there no preachers of the same stamp ? Why is it necessary for us to 
represent absolution in its most exaggerated form ? Do we not absolve 
ourselves daily, without having confessed ourselves very strictly ? And in 
what a communion of love does the truly pious Catholic sta.nd, through the 
whole series of blessed spirits and saints up to the person of Christ, who, 



238 MEMOIR OF NIEBOTR. 

connected with him by this unbroken line, is therefore more of a mediator 
to him ! 

If, therefore, a longing, harassed, pious Protestant, in despair at the 
deadness of his own Church, and the waxen image which bears her name, 
should cast a look of love upon the Catholic Church, while concealing her 
weak, points from himself; if he creates an illusion for himself all the 
more readily because he has probably never seen her priestcraft, or not 
in its degeneracy — we ought not, I think, to take offense at such a one. 

Certainly, we are bound to say to one who goes too far in his admira- 
tion, Do not transfer your ideal to that the reality of which you are able 
to test ! See how the spirit, for whose sake alone, you are ready to cling 
with love to a figure the aspect of which would else terrify you, never 
penetrated its substance, and show us where it dwells in it now, and say 
whether necessarily in this form ! See how that very tendency toward 
the Ideal, which has produced many of its peculiarities, when it has van- 
ished, leaves something behind much worse than that which preceded it, 
as such a tendency always does ; how hypocrisy and rant have grown out 
of asceticism, priestly tyranny out of church discipline, the wildest license 
from mortification of the flesh ! The forms are still there, wherever the 
Catholic religion exists, but if the spirit have fled from the existing forms, 
how can you hope to awaken it again through the outward assumption of 
these very forms ? 

Is it quite correct that the decline of religion has proceeded from the 
Catholic countries ? A moral turpitude, which is hostile to religion, has 
undoubtedly always prevailed among the people of Romanic descent, but 
as a national characteristic, and quite apart, by the side of strict faith in 
the Church, or blind obedience fancying itself faith. Thus it is still at 
the present day. 

With us, as it appears to me, indifferentism took its rise from indigna- 
tion at the revolting Orthodox party, who persecuted the Mystics, Spener, 
Franke, &c, in a truly popish spirit, carrying the insolence of priestly 
claims to an extent that no Capuchin could exceed.* I quite understand 
how those who lived under their rod of discipline, if they did not become 
Mystics, should turn aside to free-thinking with bitter hatred. The real 
Protestant free-thinking, however, which has usurped the territory of the 

* Spener and Franke were tbe principal autbors of a revival of religion which 
took place in the Lutheran Church, in the latter part of the seventeenth centu- 
ry, very similar to that which took place in England, in the eighteenth century, 
owing to the influence of the Wesleys and Whitefield. The Lutheran church 
had become as dead and formal, previous to this awakening, as the Church of 
England in the last century, but there was this great difference between the 
two reforms: in the dead English Church, morality was preached without those 
doctrines which touch the heart-springs and give the languid will energy to 
perform the duties required; in the dead Lutheran Church, dogmas were 
preached to the neglect of morality and the cultivation of devotional feeling ; 
hence the one reform brought the doctrines of the gospel forward, so prominent- 
ly as sometimes to throw the inculcations of morality into the background, while 
the other neglected positive dogmas, in the endeavor to kindle a~living flame 
of devotion in the heart, and to purify the life. The Pietists of Germany were 
persecuted by the old orthodox party nearly as much as the Methodists in En- 
gland ; but, happily for the Lutheran Church, their opponents did not succeed 
in excluding them from its pale, as was the case with the enemies of the anal- 
ogous party in England. Pranke was also the founder of the great Orphan 
House at Halle, still flourishing at the present day. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 239 

Church, and would fain continue to bear sway under the name of the van- 
quished party, appears to me to have been imported entirely from England. 
The free-masonry which likewise, at the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, spread first through North Germany, and thence into other parts, 
may have greatly promoted it in the first instance. Voltaire and the 
French " belles-lettres'' philosophy rather aided the former, than had much 
independent agency, except among the higher classes. In the eighteenth 
century, however, it was not these, but our middle classes who determined 
the national turn of thought in Protestant Germany. 

You remind the panegyrists of the Catholic Church, with great reason, 
that the most beautiful hymns have been composed by Protestants. In 
modern times certainly, at least with very few exceptions. But have not 
all really exalted and elevating poems of this kind been composed by Mys- 
tics ? Is there one of them that can find favor among rationalistic theo- 
logians, if it be not hacked and remodeled in all directions ? Undoubted- 
ly it is a revolting absurdity when people say religion is poetry, for the 
good meaning which we might put upon the expression, is its imposed, 
not its natural one. But the root of poetry — feeling and intuition — is 
certainly also the root of faith. 

I often ask myself, what shall we come to ? In Catholic countries the 
clergy is dying out ; in a short time men will neither be able nor willing 
to take orders. Among ourselves we have names, and forms, and a uni- 
versal dull consciousness that all is not right ; every one is ill at ease ; 
we feel like ghosts in a living body. I speak only of the Continent ; for 
in England, I grant, Christianity stands firm as a rock, from the very fact 
of the innumerable sects ever newly springing up, which testify to the fer- 
tility of the soil. But 1 am perfectly tranquil as to the result. We shall 
become truer and purer, when every thing has been eliminated, which 
does not belong to the heart of any of the numerous sects that will then 
develop themselves. " Offenses must come, but woe be to him by whom 
they come !" I would not overthrow the dead Church, but if she fall, it 
will cause me no uneasiness. Let us trust that a comforter will come, a 
new Light, when we least expect it. All the sorrows of this era will lead 
on toward the truth, if we are only willing.* 

CXLIX. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Berlix, loth August, 1812. 

Perthes was here a few weeks ago ; when you see him he will 

tell you how comfortable I am at present. How long it will continue so, 
I leave fearlessly to fate. Things certainly will not remain quite so pleas- 
ant, not only because external circumstances will almost inevitably stand 
in the way, but also because my outward position is really too enviable. 
Much is wanting which can not be compensated, but this can not be reck- 
oned as belonging to my outward position ; the latter could not possibly 
be more favorable in any part of Germany, though we live in the midst 
of a sandy desert, and far away from beautiful objects of any description. 
Y ou shall allow yourself to be persuaded to carry out the plan you former- 

* This letter should be read in connection with those addressed to Madame 
Hensler, written from Rome, of 7th March, and 1st May, 1818. 



240 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ly mentioned, of residing for a time in Berlin. Yon, who are so fond of 
interesting society, could not but find this singular colony of intellectual 
and accomplished men, collected from all parts of Germany, exceedingly 
attractive, though you would not be equally pleased with what is, strictly 
speaking, native to the place. Before you receive my letter, Perthes will 
have sent you, in my name, the second volume of my History. You will 
see that the work here begins to take the form of a regular history, though 
the digressions, which you wished away in the first volume, will be found 
here in equal number. In the third, they will be of little importance. 
A deep silence still reigns in Germany; I do not know whether it is that 
people are startled at the new phenomenon ; or whether they neither un- 
derstand the style, nor enter into the mode of thought and treatment. I 
do not know whether I shall ever have the satisfaction of seeing the pub- 
lic on my side. An author ought not to make advances to the public, but 
it is very seldom that a great work entirely fails in gaining it over. 

I shall hardly finish the third volume during this winter. I had worked 
myself quite stupid j complete relaxation, and the Pyrmont waters are now, 
however, refreshing me greatly. But, on the one hand, I must sketch the 
outline of a course of lectures for the winter, on Roman Antiquities, as 
bringing my ideas into train for the History ; and, on the other, I find 
change of subject beneficial, and Greece allures me now with charms as 
strong as those she had for me in my youth. how would philology bo 
cherished, if people knew the magical delight of living and moving amid 
the most beautiful scenes of the past! The mere reading is the smallest 
part of it ; the great thing is to feel familiar with Greece and Rome during 
their most widely different periods ! I wish to write history with such 
vividness — so to replace vague by well-defined images — so to disentangle 
confused representations, that the name of a Greek of the age of Polybius 
and Thucydides, or that of a Roman in the times of Cato or Tacitus, should 
instantly call up in the mind the fundamental idea of their character. 
May I succeed in my object ! There is no want of materials ; we can not 
excuse ourselves on that ground ; if we fail, the fault lies wholly in our- 
selves. I should like to write, in the same way, on the golden age of 
Greece, then on the rise of the sciences and the decline of poetry, and on 
the immeasurable gulf between the age of Pericles and that of Demosthenes. 
I should further like to write a work on ancient literature as a whole, sim- 
ilar to Schlegel's ''Lectures on the Drama," (which you, too, of course, 
think glorious ?) on the lost writings, as well as those still extant, from 
Homer to the Byzantines. 

But the Roman history shall not be neglected. What is the most likely 
to keep me back, is the difficulty of meeting with thoroughly good military 
maps, without which there is much that it is scarcely possible to describe. 
Fancy and divination may certainly often hit the mark ; but they can not 
so imperatively demand belief. 

, What are you working at ? You scarcely allude to it, and Perthes knew 
nothing about it. 

Farewell, my dear Moltke. Do not repay me evil for my silence, and 
accept, with your old affection, Milly's and my own best love to yourself 
and the boys. 

Your faithful Niebuhr. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 241 

CL. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 19th August, 1812. 
As to the aim of Wilhelm Meister, you will probably have some- 
what changed your opinion by this time, as I suppose you are near the end 
of the book. Goethe has certainly written it, in part perhaps designedly, 
in part unconsciously, as a representation of the stage. The disenchant- 
ment of the enthusiast, and his picture of the universal worthlessness of 
the players, even of those among them who are real artists, are very likely 
a satire upon himself, as no one ever carried the passion for the stage, and 
the attempt to cultivate the taste of the players further than Goethe. I 
have made another conjecture, which I can not indeed verify in a few lines, 
but it might be established by a comparison of passages differing widely 
in other respects. It is that he meant to bring forward the following view 
(at all events in the work as it now stands, for the first sketch of it was 
made at least as early as 1799, and was, no doubt, quite inartificial), that 
each will succeed best in his own style, by following out his original tastes, 
and cultivating them to perfection ; that though there are perfectly pure 
and highly exalted natures, others coarse and superficial, and some even 
false, all are good of their kind. Further, that it is a folly to regard ac- 
cidents as judgments, and the circumstances that alter the direction of 
our life as providential ; and finally (toward which much in the " Elective 
Affinities" also tends), that what we deem our wise resolutions, will usually 
work much evil to ourselves and others, if they break any link in the nat- 
ural chain of our destinies. I by no means commend all these views ; that 
they are Goethe's, and contained in this book, I am ready to maintain. 
Many parts are, no doubt, simply poetical, without any ulterior aim, and 
the whole would be most likely better if there were more of the same kind. 

I am now busily engaged with the Greeks. I think I never appreciated 
them so keenly before. Moreover, some very crude productions on the 
subject have given me a great inclination to use up a few sheets, in sketch- 
ing a survey of the different periods of the intellectual Mstory of the Greeks, 
from their golden age, to that in which they were in no way superior to 
ourselves. 

Oersted* leaves to-morrow for the Rhine and Paris. I am really very 
sorry to lose him; I scarcely know another natural philosopher who has 
so much intellect, and freedom from prejudice and esprit de corps : then, 
too, he keeps within bounds, aud never loses himself in arbitrary conject- 
ures. Besides, his character is very estimable; and he parts from me 
with regret. Thank Gcd it seems as if the dangers which threatened you 
were passing away. 

CLI. 

Berlin, 8th September, 1812. 

It interferes much with close study that we have troops always 

quartered upon us, and that they are perpetually changing. 

During this vacation, I have been reviewing all kinds of books, not with- 
out a reference to the circumstances of the times. But I have another 
object, namely, to earn some money for a friend who wants it. I find re- 
* The celebrated natural philosopher, and author of Der Geist in der Natar, 
I, 



242 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

viewing no pleasant task ; I should like to get hold of books that I could 
really take pleasure in, and recommend, but I very seldom hit upon such ; 
most of those which come before me are a tissue of shallowness and error, 
often, too, of gross ignorance, in which I really can not find any thing to 
praise. 

I continue to take the waters, and thereby lose a great deal of time. 
The time for my lectures, too, is approaching, but that does not alarm me, 
as 1 mean to deliver them extempore, and have most of my materials al- 
ready stored up in my memory. This course will be a very useful one for 
the young men. 

I began reading Plato a short time ago. Theages is still my favorite, 
of the dialogues that I have read afresh ; the declaration of the young 
man, that he feels himself better and higher, if he is only in the same 
house with Socrates, and the more so, the nearer he is to him, and the 
most so, when he can look into his eyes and read his soul, is worth more 
to me than the most acute dialectics, where you have to toil through ever 
so many long dialogues, and gain nothing at the end. But such an evi- 
dence of emotions which we have experienced, and still experience our- 
selves, when we think of any of the few great men of our own day, is worth 
much. I have also been reading a tragedy of Sophocles again, and was 
glad to find that I was more moved by it than I had ever been before. . . . 

CLII. 

Berlin, 2d October, 1812. 

For the last week past, our slumbering anxieties respecting Denmark 
have been revived, and in a way that makes it difficult to calm them by 
unbelief. You say nothing on this subject, perhaps lest we should be 
alarmed, perhaps for the same reasons which kept us silent, when we 
knew more about the progress of the war than the papers told us. But it 
seems almost impossible for the storm to blow over, and whatever may 
be its issue, it will bring misery and calamity to our poor fatherland. This 
apprehension lies heavy on my heart, but of course I can not tell you in 
writing the possibilities I fear. Devastation is now proceeding with fear- 
ful strides, from the deserts that are forming in Russia, to the total failure 
of the crops in Norway. I am not ashamed to confess to the selfishness 
of affection, and that amid all these horrors, I am thinking with a heavy 
heart of the misfortune which the p*per currency will bring on my nearest 
and dearest friends 

I have seen here a collection of antique works of art, which is quite 
unique. It was made by Klaproth, and belongs to him, but he is of such 
a retiring disposition that its very existence is news to every one to whom 
I mention it. The collection consists of antique works in glass ; some 
are mosaic, some transparent, some opaque glass of tbe most exquisite 
colors. Two singularly-shaped pieces have come from Gu'mea, where they 
have been used as sceptre points by the negro princes. There can not be 
the least doubt that they have traveled thither from Carthage. Klaproth 
has also some fragments of metal mirrors, where the proportions are pre- 
cisely those of Herschel's telescope. The Greeks were no artists in chem- 
istry, and the Romans knew absolutely nothing of it • hence it is only 
through analysis and actual observation that we discover how, even in 
these tkings, we stand below the ancients. Stranger still ; many chemical 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 243 

preparations, colors for instance, were still handed down by tradition, and 
kept as a secret in the sixteenth century, that are now lost, and seem to 
have been invaluable. Science is advancing very rapidly now, but ahe is 
grown an utter stranger to art. 

CLIII. 

TO PERTHES.* 

October, 1812. 

Our dear Nicolovius lost no time in conveying to me the good news he 
had heard from you. I have not seen him again since then, and do not 
know whether he is writing to you ; if he has not time to do so, I know I 
may say, in his name as well as our own, how much we are pleased, and 
wish you and your dear wife joy from the bottom of our hearts. When 
the little boy is as old as one of us (you or I), and is talking with his gray- 
haired parents about the evil times when he was born, I trust he will be 
able to thank Heaven for having lived from his youth in so fresh a period 
of regeneration, and revival from desolation ; and that it will be a better 
founded prosperity than that which followed the Seven Years' War. You 
see that I expect good days for you and your wife yet. 

Do works of art, if not very expensive, still find a sale in your provin- 
ces ? (I consider you as sovereign of the publishing trade from the Ems 
to the Baltic.) There is coming out here, but it has not yet appeared, 
and the price is not fixed, a very beautiful set of "Studies from the old 
Italian Masters," (i.e. Giotto, Gaddi, and Masaccio), by an artist named 
Kuhbeil, who is as poor as a rat, has lived upon contemplation and labor 
in Italy, mended his own shoes, &c. Some of them are from the pieces 
which the Riepenhausens have copied, but, according to the testimony of eye- 
witnesses, incomparably more faithful. There are really sublime things 
among them. Nicolovius takes a great interest in the work. Should you 
be able to assist its circulation ? JBy-the-by, it is remarkable that, even 
in France, people are beginning to suspect that this old art was really in 
spirit the highest, and that while Raphael, who may bear the same rela- 
tion to these old masters as Sophocles to the earliest lyric poets, rose to 
the very summit of art — with him likewise, the inspiration of genius de- 
parted. When you see a light breaking in upon questions like these, upon 
which you have made up your own mind in silence for years, it reconciles 
you to much else that displeases you in your contemporaries. It has given 
me downright delight to see the Leipsic Catalogue so thin ; only two pages of 
novels ! I must confess that it looks very miserable in other respects, too. 

* Perthes was one of the largest booksellers and publishers in Germany, a 
man of uncommon energy, enterprise, and good sense. He was a friend of many 
of the most distinguished men of his day, and was intimately connected with 
the Holstein circle, among whom Niebuhr passed his early years, from whom 
he imbibed much of their peculiar religious tendency. He was a determined 
opponent of the French rule in Germany, and took so active a part in the in- 
surrection which freed Hamburgh from the French yoke for a short time in 1813, 
that, on the return of Davoust, he was proscribed His friendship with Niebuhr 
began when both were young, and lasted through life, though its continuance 
was threatened in the winter of 1813-14, because Niebuhr would not concede 
the honor to the conduct of Hamburgh which Perthes thought it deserved, and. 
in the " Preussische Correspondent," compared it, in a depreciating style, with 
the heroism of Prussia. Nicolovius, however, prevented a breach, and from this 
time they remained in habits of the most friendly intercourse. 



244 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHK. 

The Catalogue you will bring out will not be much calculated to bring 
our literature into repute among foreigners. 

What will become of poor Denmark ? Are not you, too, startled 

at the Sicilian constitution ? (The " Hamburgische Correspondent" haa, 
no doubt, given you an account of it.) Don't you see that it is altogether 
the work of the aristocracy ? It is true that many grievances are cleared 
away at a stroke, over which travelers have lamented, for the last forty 
years, as hindrances to prosperity ; and the island may become wealthy ; 
but how can there be tranquillity ? Every thing will go on seething and 
fermenting. England sends forth in all directions, probably quite unsus- 
pected by the ministers, a spirit of republicanism, which will make that 
country as much disliked by all sovereigns and governments, as it is already 
by their subjects for its conduct with regard to their commercial and man- 
ufacturing interests. The emancipation of the Irish Catholics is a crisis 
in the English Constitution itself, through which the republican portion 

of their institutions receives increased power, and H is certainly quite 

wrong in asserting that the English will end with an absolute monarchy. 
They are much more likely to try a republic, unless fate has pre-ordained 
it otherwise. 

CLIV. 

TO JACOBI. 

Berlin, November 21st, 1811. 

Honored Jacobi — How I am to begin the first letter after a silence of 
many years — how I am to select the most essential particulars from among 
the thousand things I might say to you — how I am to arrange these most 
essential points, on which I would fain speak unreservedly, in any kind of 
order, is an enigma which I can find no means of solving 

That you have sent me your work, which I received a few days ago 
from our dear and noble Nicolovius as a gift from you, has afforded me an 
encouragement, for which, however, I should not have waited before ap- 
proaching you once more. Perhaps you have already received the first 
part of my Roman History through Lindner ; at all events it will most 
probably be in your hands before this letter reaches you. May you accept 
it with as much kindness and indulgence as I feel gratitude and affection 
for your gift ; may you be able to connect it with long-past years, the 
broken thread of which has for me been re-united by this token of remem- 
brance from you ! 

I still remember most vividly — as it is impossible that you should do — 
how, in the years of my ardent youth, I sat at your feet, rejoicing in the 
kindness with which you listened to my dreams of the possibility that I 
might one day be capable of restoring the history of antiquity, and en- 
couraged me to work toward their realization. I must confess, that you 
will not find the ideal, which then stood before me, fulfilled in the attempt 
to transform these dreams into waking realities, which I have at last un- 
dertaken, after many, and in some degree wasted years, and with but the 
remnants of my original powers. Yet I am equally convinced that you 
will not regard as insignificant my diligent and not quite fruitless research- 
es, nor look on some of their results as mere creations of the brain, though 
at first they will be so termed by many till they have grown accustomed 
to the unusual shapes. And if you do find that you may say of tho dif- 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 245 

ference between the early ideal and the later reality, that the amphora has 
been turned into a pot, yet coarse potter's ware can not be dispensed 
with, and the man who can make no better is sufficiently punished by Ms 
incapacity. 

To know you, to see and hear you, was one of the highest enjoyments 
of those few years of my youth, which succeeded a period of frequent de- 
pression, and were passed in the intoxication of brilliant day-dreams — in a 
sort of heaven upon earth. It was not that my youthful vanity was flat- 
tered by your kindness — it was a pure and perfectly innocent sentiment. 
That it was so is proved, perhaps, most incontestably by another sentiment 
which grew up beside it, and at last, like the lean kine of the seer, swal- 
lowed it up, and brought about my separation from you. 

I have indeed now no right to make confessions, but here they can not 
be avoided. 

I was born with an inward discord, the existence of which I can trace 
back to my earliest childhood, though it was afterward much aggravated 
by an education ill adapted to my nature, or rather, by a mixture of such 
an education with no education at all. I did not conceal this from you in 
former days. Had I to choose my own endowments for another life on 
earth, I would not wish to possess greater facility in taking up impressions 
from the external world, in retaining and combining them into new forms 
within an inward world of imagination, full of the most various and ani- 
mated movement, nor a memory more accurate or more at command (a 
faculty inseparable from the former), than nature has granted me. Much 
advantage might have been derived from these gifts in childhood; perhaps, 
in some pursuits, they might have insured me every success ; nay, this 
result would have arisen spontaneously, had I not been subjected to a kind 
of education, which could only have been useful to a mind of precisely the 
opposite description. 

Our great seclusion from the world, in a quiet little provincial town, the 
prohibition, from our earliest years, to pass beyond the house and garden, 
accustomed me to gather the materials for the insatiable requirements of 
my childish fancy, not from life and nature, but from books, engravings, 
and conversation. Thus, my imagination laid no hold on the realities 
around me, but absorbed into her dominions all that I read — and I read 
without limit and without aim — while the actual world was impenetrable 
to my gaze ; so that I became almost incapable of apprehending any thing 
which had not already been apprehended by another — of forming a mental 
picture of any thing which had not before been shaped into a distinct con- 
ception by another. It is true that, in this second-hand world, I was very 
learned, and could even, at a very early age, pronounce opinions like a 
grown-up person ; but the truth in me and around me was vailed from my 
eyes — the genuine truth of objective reason. Even when I grew older, and 
studied antiquity with intense interest, the chief use I made of my knowl- 
edge, for a long time, was to give fresh variety and brilliancy to my world 
of dreams. From the delicacy of my health, and my mother's anxiety 
about it, I was so much confined to the house that I was like a caged bird, 
and lost all natural spirit and liveliness, and the true life of childhood, the 
observations and ideas of which must form the basis of those peculiar to a 
more developed age, just as the early use of the body is the basis of its after 
training. No one ever thought of asking what I was doing, and how I did 



246 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

it- and it was not until my thirteenth year, that I received any regular 
instruction. My friends were satisfied with seeing that I was diligently 
employed, and that, though I had at first no teaching, I was equal to boys 
of my age in things for which they had had regular masters, and soon sur- 
passed them when I had the same advantages, while, moreover, I was as 
well acquainted with a thousand matters, to be learned from books, as a 
grown-up man. Yet, after a time, I began to grow uneasy ; I became 
aware that, notwithstanding my empire in the air, my life in the actual 
world was poor and powerless ; that the perception of realities alone pos- 
sesses truth and worth ; that on it are founded all imaginative productions 
which have any value at all, and that there is nothing truly worthy of 
respect but that depth of mind which makes a man master of truth in its 
first principle. As soon as I had to enter on the sciences, properly so 
called, I found myself in a difficulty, and, unfortunately, I took once more 
the easiest path, and left on one side whatever cost me some trouble to 
acquire. I was often on the verge of a mental revolution, but it never actu- 
ually took place ; now and then, indeed, I planted my foot on the firm 
ground, and, when that happened, I made some progress. 

When I first became acquainted with you, I was happy, and I was, 
perhaps, on the way to do what is more difficult than to gain knowledge 
without help from others, to restore what was distorted in me to its right 
place. But at a later period, when I left my quiet and healthful position, 
for a superficial world, which held me with a strong grasp, and confused 
and deadened my mind — where I was dragged along a path which I had 
no wish to tread, and which led me further and further from that for which 
I hopelessly longed ; where I was forced to endure applause and praise, at 
a time when my want of knowledge on essential points, and the superfluous 
matter with which I had loaded my memory on others, my unsettled, dis- 
connected ideas without true basis, my undisclipined powers without ade- 
quately firm habits of work, particularly of self-improvement, rendered me 
a horror to myself — I was as unhappy as you saw me to be. 

However, my eyes were opened to much that had hitherto escaped me, 
and I was to some degree forced into the actual external world, by my 
travels beyond the sea, and my residence among a nation distinguished by 
sober thought and resolute activity, where I was obliged to occupy myself 
with the objects of practical life, and saw this life ennobled by the perfec- 
tion to which it was carried, and the invariable adaptation of the means to 
the end. I then starved out the imaginative side of my nature, and placed 
myself, as it were, under a course of mental diet, according to which I 
lived for a long time in absolute dependence on the actual world around 
me. But this did not bring me into the right path of my true inward activ- 
ity and development. I felt that I was now, on the other hand, poorer 
than ever, as regarded what had always possessed the strongest attraction 
for me, though I seemed to be excluded from it by an insurmountable bar- 
rier. For years, I was immersed, as far as my occupations were concerned, 
in the most prosaic work-a-day life, with the pain and torment of feeling 
that I grew more used to it every day, of feeling that I was shut out of 
Paradise, but that the bread I gained by tilling the earth in the sweat of 
my brow, was not at all distasteful to me, nay that, perhaps, if Paradise 
were re-opened to me, I should still feel some longing for the spade. 

In this mood — amid my then habitual employments — at a time when, 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 247 

as it seemed to me, I never rose above mere mechanical work, and even this 
was but seldom of a literary kind — I was ashamed to appear before those 
who belonged to a higher sphere. It had formerly given me pain that you 
were too kind toward me — a pain arising from the double consciousness 
that you recognized the roots, though they had brought forth no tree, but 
only tangled underwood, and were awaiting with friendly indulgence the 
growth of one of these wild shoots into a tree ; and then that you attached 
overmuch value to what was but outside appearance in me, though an 
appearance with which I honestly wished to deceive no one ; now, how- 
ever, I felt before you and others as Lais before her mirror. Why I felt 
this most strongly of all toward you, might be said to any one except 
yourself, not to you, or you would think I sought to regain your favor by 
flattery. It is true, indeed, that I would fain win it back by soft words — 
for soft words are the language of love. 

Singular circumstances removed me from Copenhagen soon after you had 
left Holstein. A protecting angel watches over me. Our first entrance 
into this city was simultaneous with the dissolution of the State to which 
I had gone over, and now, amidst distress and grief, I went through scenes 
far more remarkable than any in my whole former life. My position was 
perpetually fluctuating ; I was forced to struggle, to act with foresight, to 
be cool and resolute. It was a great tragedy, and no longer the tedious 
drama of my former tame middle-class life. I learnt to stake my all at 
every step on a pin's head, and fortune was on my side. The wreck on 
which I had pumped so long was cast on shore, and behold ! on this shore 
I found the home of my youthful aspirations, leisure that I could devote to 
research and letters, surrounded by highly favorable and very agreeable 
circumstances. 

Can you, and will you, once more extend your hand and your affections 
to one who has strayed so far ? Will you not, at least, receive him again 
as the Prodigal Son ? 

I certainly can not say all I should like to say on the subject of your 
work, as far as I have read and comprehended it, on half a page, &c. 

Farewell, dearest Jacobi ! May I see you once more, and in such a 
manner that our meeting may give you pleasure, and I may be better able 
than in former days, to seize every moment of the fleeting time ! 

FROM GOETHE TO NIEBUHR ON RECEIVING THE SECOND 
VOLUME OF HIS HISTORY OF ROME. 

When I received your kind letter in Carlsbad, there was nothing I wished 
for more, than that your second volume had arrived at the same time with 
your letter ; for when there, I am at liberty to devote several days together 
to one subject, and to what subject could I better devote them than to your 
work ? Now I have been already eight weeks in Weimar, and spent three 
in Jena, and have rarely been fortunate enough to keep my attention un- 
interruptedly fixed on one topic even for a few consecutive hours. At the 
present moment, it is only by making a firm resolution and a determined 
effort, that I can accomplish this communication with you. 

My interest in your labors is undiminished ; indeed, it is always on the 
increase. Suffer me here to speak in general terms, rather than in details ! 
The Past can be made present to the inward eye and imagination, by con 



248 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

temporaneous written monuments, annals, chronicles, documents, memoirs, 
or whatever else they may be called. These place in our hands an imme- 
diate portion of that time itself, which gives us pleasure just as it is, but 
which we, for the sake of others, or from a hundred various impulses and 
aims, seek to cast into a new form. We do it, we remould the given 
materials, and how ? As poets, as rhetoricians ! This has been done from 
the earliest times, and these methods of treatment exert great influence ; 
they take possession of the imagination and the feelings, they give food to 
the mind, strengthen the character, and arouse to action. It is a second 
world, which has swallowed up the first. Conceive, then, the feelings of 
men when the second world is destroyed, and the first does not come forth 
perfect to view ! 

The critical science which strikes in pieces the accumulations of later 
ages, and, where it can not wholly restore the original edifice, at least ar- 
ranges the fragments, and affords glimpses of their mutual relations, is most 
welcome to all who would fain see events once more as the ancients saw 
them. But ordinary men of the world have no such wish, and they are 
right 

Allow me here to pass over a chasm. Had we lived together ; had I had 
the good fortune to have been acquainted years ago with your investigations, 
I would have advised you to follow the example of the noble and amiable 
St. Croix, and to entitle your work, "A Criticism of the Authors who have 
handed down the Roman History to our times." But to me the book is the 
book, and, as you know, titles are a modern invention. Accept, therefore, 
my expression of the pleasure it has given me, to find that your opinions 
coincide with mine on all essential points concerning the world and its 
races ; accept my thanks for having once more rendered the Roman history 
a source of enjoyment to me, by conscientiously bringing to light its station- 
ary and retrograde periods. For what man of sense will deny that he has 
often felt the presence of some error in his picture of those times, when an 
Iliad of such varied scenes, such an endless succession of glorious heroes, the 
four thousand Fabii included, achieve so little in four hundred years, that 
the city, the State, which had just for the first time, after infinite toil, got 
nd of the Philistines of Veii, is destroyed on the Alia like any little provin- 
cial town, so that they have to begin again from the beginning ? But when 
the matter is placed clearly and plainly before us from your point of view, 
this reflects no discredit, but rather honor upon that people. I must pass 
to another topic 

You throw the whole blame of the retrograde movement on the aristoc- 
racy, you espouse the side of the plebeians ; and this is right and allowable 
in an impartial investigator, at a period when both have ceased to exist. 
One more general remark, with which I will conclude. Every state is ar- 
istocratic in its commencement ; it can only extend its power by means of 
the masses, which are kept at a distance and kept down, till they obtain 
equal rights for themselves ; from this moment monarchy becomes desirable, 
and is infallibly introduced, and then many courses — some of progress, some 
of retrogression — are open to the community. For all three states (state 
is a stupid word, for nothing stands fixed, and all is changeful), all three 
relations suffer from Change, which makes a sport of what is right and 
great, even as of what is bad and mean, that all may be fulfilled. 

By what I have written 'I look back but for one moment), though it may 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 249 

sound somewhat strange, I hope to convince you that no one can take a 
deeper interest ha your labors than I do, even in their smallest details. 
Your two volumes — and the third, and its successors when they appear — 
will always accompany me wherever my varying year may lead, and neither 
you nor I can foresee the whole extent of my obligations to you ; genuine 
activity of mind is alone refreshing. Mountain and valley never meet, but 
wandering men may, and why should not I hope to fall in with you some- 
where ? Let me add to this letter, as I should like to do to every one I 
send, the clausula salutaris, may you see in it cordiality and good intentions, 
if not insight and adequate comprehension! 

With best wishes, Goethe. 

Jena, 23d November, 1812. 

CLV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, \lth December, 1812. 
I. willingly recognize Herder's great qualities, and they reappeared in all 
their vigor as he lay upon his death-bed. During the latter half of his life 
they had been obscured. This idea has been expressed on one occasion 
lately, in a very striking manner, but we must look deeper for its cause. 
Herder was no longer the same man when he ceased to be religious. (That 
was the case before he published his book on the " Spirit of Hebrew Poetry ;" 
but the most beautiful portions of this work had been written at an earlier 
period). A discord then arose in his mind which tortured him as long as 
Hamann lived, and ended, after the death of the latter, in his making poetic- 
religious quibbles ; for the " Discourse on Immortality," the " Essay on St. 
John," &c, are nothing more. He still desired to maintain a harmony 
with his earlier tone of expression, and yet he was animated by a different 
spirit. He was proud, and loved power. See how he treated the elder 
Spalding even hi early life. And his after conduct toward Spalding, the 
way in which he contrived to get his own letters back from him, was abso- 
lutely dishonest. To place himself even on a level with Goethe, without 
presumption, he ought to have had clearness of intellect ; but, on the con- 
trary, he is only effective, and able to produce a really deep impression, 
where he speaks vaguely and suggestively, and excites emotion ; as a phi- 
losopher he is commonplace. In his later writings, there is much that is 
quite intolerable, and the more so because you here and there recognize in 
their pages, the distorted lineaments of his youthful beauty. Nothing but 
the memory of his early greatness, and Goethe's own kindly heart, could 
have made the latter so gentle and forbearing - toward Herder, as he remained 
for many years. Herder hated Kant for having reviewed his " Ideen." He 
wanted to press Goethe, among others, into the service of his philosophical 
crusade against Kant, with whose writings Goethe was probably only par- 
tially acquainted, and in which he found much that was uncongenial to his 
nature, though he recognized in them the greatness of their author. You 
say, Goethe would not have printed this, had Herder or his wife been still 
living. Certainly not ; but it would have been because his whole book is 
written in such a mild and gentle spirit, and because he would, not have 
chosen to hurt the feelings of a noble-minded woman, or a really extraordi- 
nary man ; which Herder certainly was, though he was much less in mature 



250 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

years than, I will not say, he promised to he, but actually was, in his 

youth 

Epidemic typhus is raging in Konigsberg ; six physicians have died of 
it already. The hospitals can no longer contain the sick and wounded, 
and it is necessary to quarter them in private houses. Heaven knows 
whether they will be able to manage in any other way here, if the army 
should encamp on the Vistula. Else we have been remarkably fortunate 
hitherto. When the town is fully garrisoned, I have to maintain an officer 
and three privates ; but we are frequently without these guests 

CLVI. 

TO PERTHES. 

December, 1812. 

We are reading the "Nibelungen Lied" with Nicolovius, who is at- 
tending Zeuner's lectures upon it ; his delight in the poem gives me a per- 
mission to indulge mine, undisturbed by the sneers which it has been the 
fashion to bestow on it among the beaux esprits, ever since the golden age 
of 1780. We are building castles in the air about making the study of 
the old German language an essential part of philology, and of all scholastic 
education ; about school editions of Ulphilas, King Alfred, Ottfried, &c, 
school dictionaries, and exercises in old Frankish, Anglo-Saxon, and Gothic ; 
and then, of course, we must have a professorship established for these 
languages at the University, to which I should like to see the inseparable 
brothers Grimm appointed. Have you yet got the Hildebrand and Hathu- 
brand ?* In them I find the other end of the fallen-in gallery, the oppo- 
site end of which I have discovered in antiquity, and from which I shall 
begin to clear out the rubbish in my third volume. 

I sympathize in the pleasure you have received from Goethe's second 
volume, dear Perthes; I have just received another very friendly letter 
from him, which attracts me toward him more than ever. But yet I can 
not help feeling that I would much rather see him a downright heathen 
poet, than in this priestly vesture (in the objectionable passage) which he 
does not know how to wear. 1 stand to my opinion, and appeal again to 
the similar feeling it excited in N * * *, that Goethe confounds sacraments 
with ceremonies, and has no proper idea of a sacrament at all, for which 
certainly no other reason can be given than that which Claudius assumes, 
and has given. Now it is positively painful to me, that a confused use 
of terms should be favored in this way, and that the empty praters, of 
whom there are so many, should be encouraged to pretend that they re- 
gard every ceremony to which they happen to take a fancy, as a sacra- 
ment, because they have the highest authority on their side. You are 
very likely already aware that Neander is invited to come to our university. 
As to Julian, I believe that he was animated partly by a just hatred 
against Constantine, partly by indignation at the meanness of the priests ; 
and partly, that his highly poetical and princely mind rendered him ad- 
verse to the new religion. He looked on the hierarchy only as a means to 
his end. He must have been unacquainted with antiquity to be able to 
submit himself at any time to the new order of things 

An epic poem, written in the eighth or ninth century, of uncertain author- 
ship. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 261 

CLVII. 

TO MADAM HENSLER. 

Berlin, 9th January, 1813. 

According to all appearances, our whole position is now very critical; 
and if we had been plunged suddenly from the unbroken peace in which 
we lived years ago, into our present circumstances, we should, perhaps, 
have found it difficult to maintain our cheerfulness and composure. The 
gentle education of fate gradually accustoms the unarmed citizen, as well 
as the soldier, to danger, and begets a happy fatalistic levity, a trust that 
the evil times will not be quite unbearable, and perhaps the cloud will 
pass over our heads without breaking. We hear nothing like rumors of 
peace. A circumstance that will increase the general misery is, that the 
murrain among the cattle is now prevailing in all parts of Poland, and has 
shown itself in West Prussia and elsewhere on our borders. To keep it 
out, by laying an embargo, is, under present circumstances, as good as 
impossible, as there is nothing like a police force in any part of the coun- 
try. In Kbnigsberg the deaths arc over a hundred a week, mostly of 
typhus fever ; the usual average is thirty-five. Dumas was in Elbing a 
short time since, and has nearly recovered from the fever ; but I hear he 
complains that his memory is much affected by it. However, he will 
most likely resume his functions. We are expecting Grenier's division 
here next week, which will necessitate the quartering of a great number of 
troops upon the inhabitants, probably for a considerable time, even if an 
army should be collected on the banks of the Oder. 

I was interrupted while writing the above, by the intelligence, that so 
far from the Russians having entered Kbnigsberg peacefully, the above- 
named division had arrived there on the third, and when our informant left, 
a battle was being fought before the gates of the city, which is probably, 
by this time, suffering all the horrors of war. 

Milly has a return of her bad cough, which has been much less trouble- 
some ; it makes me very uneasy. I am perfectly well, but do not get 
much work done. I can not keep my thoughts from wandering at such 
a time. I shall not be able to finish off any thing at present, but I must 
endeavor to turn the time to some account, by collecting materials and 
performing preliminary tasks. 

I am quite of your opinion that an active life of short duration, is far 
preferable to a lengthened one passed more languidly. 

CLVIII. 

Berlin, 22i January, 1813. 

I could only give hints about the destruction of the great army when I 
wrote to you, not describe it in its full magnitude, as we knew it already. 
Of 400,000 men, exclusive of the Austrians, Saxons, and the corps of 
Macdonald (which was composed of Prussians and Grandjean's division), 
who marched into Russia, there have not been collected at the Vistula, 
from all quarters, 10,000 men sound and able to bear arms. 

Our position is critical, and was for some days perilous. The people 
are in a most excited state ; I can not say that this first showed itself since 
the destruction of the army, for it appeared several times very plainly, even 



252 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

so early as the summer ; you will understand that I could not refer to it in 
my letters. On the Emperor's birthday there was quite a tumultuous out- 
break. Of course, during the last few months, it has been impossible for 
such expressions of feeling to take place ; but there have been daily affrays. 
The people could not be made to refrain from ridiculing and insulting the 
French, although the city was so strongly garrisoned. 

We have received a promise that 2000 of our own troops shall march 
in on Tuesday. If so, we are safe, and can await in peace the issue of 
affairs. The Russians may arrive here in a fortnight. Their behavior 
throughout the country is exemplary. It seems as if their great deeds and 
great sacrifices had ennobled the whole nation. The peasants are hasten- 
ing to remove their more valuable property from the country into the city ; 
some, perhaps, for fear of the Cossacks (who often, however, pay ready 
money), but most, because they hear that the French are laying waste all 
the plains with fire. . 

For the last two days, the fugitives from the Vistula have been coming 
in ; a spectacle that I can not describe. This is by far the most memora- 
ble epoch of my life ; no danger, no difficulties it may involve, could make 
me wish it erased. These things ought to be witnessed close at hand. 
And courage comes, one knows not how. 

Since the return of the Emperor from Moscow, the universal cry has been, 
let us free ourselves ! The Court has not been able to decide upon any 
sudden step, but has been negotiating with Austria, with whom we are to 
maintain a close alliance. Whether this will be possible, when the Rus- 
sians are in the country, and find themselves supported by public opinion, 
the event will show. There is a considerable force collected in Silesia : 
what may be expected of a Prussian army in the cause of France, has been 
shown by the corps of General York, whose example is decisive on that 
point.* A corps under General Biilow, consisting of trained soldiers dis- 
banded in winter, is stationed on the marsh near the Oder. The decision 
of our fate, in all respects, is now closely impending. I have so completely 
dissolved all connection with the government, that there is, perhaps, only 
a single man in it who could dream of intrusting any office to me. I do 
not like to be useless, but our administration is not such as I could work 
with. On the contrary, I feel more inclined to connect myself with the 
military service. I have made the only step in my power toward this, by 
applying for an appointment on the general staff. I will write to you 
again on Tuesday ; but it will be by post, so you will have to draw in- 
ferences from hints. Our correspondence will be unavoidably interrupted 
by the entrance of the Russians, Heaven grant not for long. It is worth 
while to live through such a period, but one can not yet breathe quite 
freely. 

* The Prussian contingent, under General York, had been cut off from the 
army of Macdonald, by General Diebitsch, on which York concluded a separate 
convention with the latter for the safety of his troops, by which his corps, 
amounting to 15,000 men, were to remain neutral for two months. The King 
at first disavowed this convention, ^nd conferred the command on General Kleist, 
but York refused to acknowledge the proclamation to this effect, which appeared 
in the Gazette, till he was formally superseded by the arrival of his successor, 
and meanwhile, affairs advanced so rapidly as to phange the whole policy of 
Prussia. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 253 

CLIX. 

%9th January, 1813. 

It was a false report that the French troops were going to occupy 

the fortresses on the Oder, and that we should have the comfort of a Prus- 
sian garrison. We have still an extremely strong French one ; also many 
sick and wounded in the city 5 a post-office is established in our house. 

Dumas was expected here to-day. The French say that he will not 
remain here, but go to Mayence, where the head-quarters are to be fixed 
for the present 

CLX. 

Berlin, 13^ February, 1813. 

The crowd of volunteers, coming to enlist, is as great to-day in 

fifont of the Town Hall, as it is before a baker's shop in famine. But to 
give you an idea of the zeal, with which every body here is pressing for- 
ward to inscribe their names in the volunteer rifle detachment, I must tell 
you this. It is only three days since the formation of this corps was an- 
nounced, and to-day the post * is going out with nine extra carriages full 
of the recruits, besides those who go on foot, or by other conveyances. 
This is naturally, too, only a very small part of those who have enlisted, 
for the greater part have business to settle and equipments to provide, be- 
fore they can leave. Among the volunteers are young men of all classes, 
students from the university and public schools ; clerks from warehouses, 
apothecaries, journeymen from all the trades, middle-aged officers of rank 
and standing, fathers of families, &c, &c 

CLXI. 

TO PERTHES. 

February, 1813. 

It has just occurred to me that I have never thanked you for your copy 
of Neander's "Julian." You have not praised it too highly beforehand. 
The subject is such that the author must either become a favorite with his 
reader, or make himself positively disagreeable to him. With me he has 
become a great favorite. I think his views clear, correct, and candid ; the 
whole book is written in a deeply truthful spirit, which is truly refreshing 
to me, because it is so rare in these days ; and I rejoice in the love which 
the upright and pious historian bears to the noble-hearted man, who was 
only outwardly in error. For this, however, he has been punished by the 
anathemas of the stupid zealots, and, as if this thirteen hundred and fifty 
years of purgatory were not enough, by the mingled delight and contempt, 
with which he was regarded by the "philosophes du 18me siecle." It is 
to be hoped, that Neander has now accomplished his salvation, and that 
he will become as great a favorite with really pious people, as he must 
have been with your father-in-law, t when he published the Hymn to the 
Sun, with annotations. Nicolovius has likewise read the book, and ap- 
proves it highly. We both wish to have Neander here as theological pro- 
fessor. Probably, some time will elapse, before you will have the pleasure 

* The diligences in Prussia are a government undertaking, and always termed 
*' post," as well as the carriages, answering to our postchaise«, which are termed 
" extra-post." t Claudius. 



254 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

we are now enjoying, for Goethe's second volume has reached us. While 
it is throughout as masterly a performance as the first, it is perhaps less 
pleasing ; for his loves are certainly no Gretchens ; his college life not his 
childhood ; and literature a much less entertaining subject than the old 
imperial city. It vexes me, too, to read what is a godsend to the promoters 
of abuses, and can not be sincere in Goethe's mouth, namely, his defense 
of the Catholic sacraments. I well know what may be said in their favor, 
but that Goethe plainly never thought of saying, and his representations 
must be offensive to both parties. His account of the development of his 
own mind, which is evidently quite trustworthy, is inexpressibly striking, 
bo completely irrespective of all the influences of ancient literature, and yet 
so entirely after the manner of the ancients, by nourishment of the most 
various kinds drawn directly from the present realities of life, combined 
with the restless, ever brightly burning fire in his own bosom. Goethe 
has sent me a very friendly message by a traveler, saying he wishes much 
to see me, which I shall therefore make arrangements to bring about next 
year, if God will. 

CLXII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 6th March, 1813. 

It is a pity that I have only time for a few lines to you to-day ; in such 
haste I can not conclude nor fill up the details of Milly's account ; * so you 
must be satisfied with fragments. The day before yesterday, both Berlin 
and Frankfort on the Oder were evacuated by the French ; they are slowly 
retreating hence in the direction of Wittenberg. Our festival, the day be- 
fore yesterday, was overclouded by the burning of the suburbs of Spandau, 
and they have likewise laid the suburbs of Kiistrin in ashes. We shall 
soon see whether they mean to hold Glogau and Stettin. These towns 
are, like Spandau, easy to take ; but it is different with Kiistrin, which 
can only be dismantled. Winzingerode's corps is pressing forward through 
Lusatia. The light troops are probably already in Dresden. The electorate 
of Saxony may become the scene of important events in this war. The 
Cossacks say they are going to Paris ; they have a most original appear- 
ance ; they bivouac with their horses in the city ; about four in the morn- 
ing they knock at the doors and ask for breakfast. This is a famous time 
for the children, for they set them on their horses and play with them. 
Some Calmuck and Baschkir troops have also been here, but few of them 
have remained in. the town. Even the Cossacks point to the latter, as to 
a kind of extraordinary animal. 

You can not picture to yourself the joy of the whole city on their en- 
trance, and they are welcomed in the same way in all parts of the country. 
Prussia and Prussia are like brothers together. I do not yet know what 
my work will be. To sit idle here is what I can not endure. My health 
will hardly allow me to serve as a volunteer. I have sent an urgent en- 
treaty to one of the generals, who is a friend of mine, to take me as his 
secretary in the general staff ; but he is trying to get me a higher appoint- 
ment. Milly, my anxious, tender Milly. is satisfied whatever be my fate. 
Farewell ! Our hearts are with you, whatever befall. 

* Of the retreat of the French, the entrance of the Russians, and the universal 
rejoicings. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 255 

CLXIII. 

Berlin, 22<Z, evening: 

I come from an employment in which you will hardly be able 

to fancy me engaged — namely, exercising. Even before the departure of 
the French, I began to go through the exercise in private, but a man can 
scarcely acquire it without companions. Since the French left, a party of 
about twenty of us have been exercising in the garden, and we have al- 
ready got over the most difficult part of the training. When my lectures 
are concluded, which they will be at the beginning of next week, I shall 
try to exercise with regular recruits during the morning, and as often as 
possible practice shooting at a mark. At such a time, it is worth a great 
deal to be regularly trained to arms, and it may become a matter of ab- 
solute necessity ; for we are daily expecting the publication of a law on 
the Landwehr. It is not yet known whether it is the intention of the 
government merely to have a Landwehr formed, so that it may be called 
out eventually and joined to the army, in case the enemy should recover 
ground again, or whether it is intended to fill up and strengthen the reg- 
ular army with this levy as soon as it is trained. The latter course ap- 
pears to me by far the best ; if the French beat us in the revolutionary 
war by means of masses, we must beat them now by the combined force 
of masses, and a regular army, which they did not then possess. It seems 
settled that, as a preliminary step, the fortieth of the whole population 
are to be drawn by lot for the militia. Those only who can prove physical 
incapacity are exempt, together with clergymen and teachers ; all other 
men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, must draw lots. From 
the provisional decree, it seems probable that officials in actual service 
will be allowed to find substitutes. But as I am not really an acting 
official, I should certainly be liable to serve ; and this being the case, it 
seems to be the more right and becoming course to come forward volun- 
tarily, that is, to join some of my friends, before the lottery begins, in set- 
ting the citizens the example of willing self-devotion. By the end of a 
month, I hope to be as well drilled as any recruit who is considered to 
have finished his training. The heavy musket gave me so much trouble 
at first, that I almost despaired of being able to handle it ; but we are 
able to recover the powers again that we have only lost for want of prac- 
tice. I am happy to say that my hands are growing horny ; for as long 
as they had a delicate, book- worm's skin, the musket cut into them terribly. 
This is certainly a very serious step, if the government are as much in 
earnest as they ought to be, and since all military ordinances proceed from 
General Scharnhorst, we may hope that all is really being done that ought 
to be done, and that the course chosen is the best. But unless the deliv- 
erance offered to us by the manifest and wonderful providence of God- 
after he has chastened us sufficiently for our deeply-rooted sins — find each 
of us ready to devote his life to its attainment, we can not be saved. We 
must not expect the army to conquer our freedom for us ; we must conquei 
it for ourselves, under the guidance of our older and more practiced breth- 
ren. I mentioned to you, a short time since, my hopes of getting a sec- 
retaryship on the general staff. With my small measure of physical 
power, I should have been a thousand times more useful in that office, 
than as a private soldier. Since all correspondence, even in our own coun- 
try, is so fettered, I can net quite understand what should hinder my friend 



256 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

from granting my request, unless it be a false delicacy about placing me 
in such a position to himself. Perhaps, however, it may seem odd to the 
King, whose consent is indispensable to my appointment. The friend 1 
have referred to, would like me to enter the ministry, but that is more im- 
possible than ever. Perhaps something unexpected may turn up yet. Idle, 
or busy about any thing but our liberation, I can not be now. Perhaps I 
could aid it by editing a newspaper. 

Not every action, professing to be dictated by patriotism and enthusiasm 
for freedom is pure ; but none can doubt that there are great sacrifices 
made from the highest motives. Thus, for instance, a M. Von St. (an 
officer) has made a present of the whole revenue of his estates to the gov- 
ernment, about 3000 thalers ; another gives five good working horses, all 
taken from his farm, to be trained as cavalry horses, 300 measures of corn, 
maintains a number of baggage-horses, and comes forward himself, with 
two of his servants, all mounted, to join a troop; a Mr. Von B. (formerly 
an officer) offers himself, with seven or more men, all mounted and armed 
at his expense, to serve as privates in a cavalry regiment ; a banker here 
has equipped and horsed, one after another, twenty volunteers ; a brass- 
founder has enlisted with all his apprentices and journeymen, and shut up 
his shop. In Berlin alone, I hear that 11,000 volunteers have inscribed 
their names. It is so universal to go with joy that no one can make a 
boast of it ; to betray the contrary feeling would bring disgrace. When 
the King wanted to leave Potsdam, a levy of horses was required ; though 
the French were masters of the country, every horse was offered without 
exception. In the same way the so-called cocked-hats (trained soldiers, 
some of whom are on furlough, and the rest disbanded in ordinary times), 
came forward every where voluntarily ; they were collected under the very 
eyes of the French, and sent off to Silesia. They only asked eagerly, 
whether it was certain they were to be led against the French, and the 
officers dared not assure them of it, except by hints. That these armings, 
and the raising and marching of the volunteers, should take place while 
the French army was actually occupying the country, is a most singular 
and notable circumstance. When the cockade was assumed here, the 
French unquestionably expected an insurrection. It shows the extent of 
their fear, that they never ventured to arrest any one ; for uninterrupted 
communications were carried on with the Russian troops, and this was 
known to so many, that the French had, no doubt, full intelligence of it. 
In case of any emergency, I kept a pair of pistols and a musket loaded in 
my room. Such times form an admirable education. 

I have been with some of my friends to pay my respects to General 
York. We owe every thing to him ; for, had he not decided as he did, the 
Russians could not have advanced till they had received large reinforce- 
ments, and by that time our own country would have been laid waste. 
York is certainly an excellent General ; he inspires absolute confidence. 
The gratitude, with which he had been received, had dispelled his almost 
melancholy gravity, and he was very affable. He said he should not have 
fully justified the affection expressed toward him till he had reached the 
Rhine ; but he knew what he had done, and how different would be the 
position of affairs, if he had not chosen the Right at the right moment. 

You will feel it quite natural that this long letter only speaks of that 
which fills our souls to the exclusion of all other topics. 



PROFESSORSHIP IN BERLIN. 257 

What Dutch and German troops are still with the French, will no doubt 
gradually come over ; occurrences of this kind are happening daily. Yes- 
terday, one hundred and fifty Westphalians, who had deserted from Magde- 
burg, entered our gates with their trumpeter at their head, escorted by 
Cossacks. I have seen General Dornberg. He has very pleasing manners. 

CLXIV. 

TO PERTHES. 

March, 1813. 

I can quite understand, dear Perthes, your having no leisure to write 
to me, for we hear that the universal joy at our liberation, has been even 
more tumultuously expressed in Hamburgh than with us, and, in the first 
transports of rejoicing, one can hardly write a letter. But, when joy has 
survived transport — when, blended with the contemplation of those great 
aims, to which all who break their fetters have pledged their lives, it stim- 
ulates all the energies of your soul — then I am sure you will remember 
your friend also, and anticipate his desire to hear from you. 

Our journal of to-day is rich in news : hasten to read it ; it will tell you 
every thing. Who could have dreamt that such days were in store for us, 
as we have lived through during the last few months — you, within the 
last month ? Only let us now preach to every one — we have no need to 
recall it to ourselves — that an inactive joy were as despicable as it were 
ruinous. Neither will you, I am sure, yield to fear, because the path to 
the mountain-summit of freedom winds up by the edge of a precipice. We 
must tread it cautiously, with our eyes open ; not gazing too frequently 
into the depths beneath, but ever looking upward, yet not unmindful where 
we plant our steps. Our deliverance can not remain an incomplete work; 
it can not go back, if we, in any measure, do that to which we are sum- 
moned by every motive 

1 am going to edit a weekly political newspaper here ; you shall have 
the prospectus of it very shortly. You will also receive a few thousand 
copies of Arndt's classical pamphlet on " Landwehr and Landsturm." I 
shall write you further particulars about it soon ; it is to be distributed 
gratis from house to house ; your senate must take this in charge, and 
have a new impression of it struck off for distribution. You must also 
get it translated into Dutch; for we shall soon be able to send it into East 
Friesland and farther. No house must be without a copy of this paper. 
To writing, and to serving as a common soldier, am I restricted at such a 
time ! Fate has so ordained it. 

The excellent "Word of Command" is said to be by our King himself; 
and it bears the impress of his fine and unsullied character. The personal 
qualities of our King are a consolation for much besides ; I hope that for- 
eigners may learn to appreciate him also. You are taking the best course 
in allying yourselves with Prussia. Farewell, dear friend, and love me. 

CLXV. 

TO MADAME BENSLER. 

Berlin, 9th April, 1813. 
Milly has already told you every thing. Her calm acquiescence in my 



258 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

decision is touching. You know how anxious she always is on my account, 
but here the strength of her mind is evinced^ 

The expression of your love is a comfort to me ; but do not give way 
to sadness ; all is well, and will be well. It is my fixed determination to 
take part in the crusade ; and if, in a matter of such moment, it is a re- 
lief when the decision must be partly left to fate, I have this consolation 
also ; for it is necessary to obtain the King's permission. If, in my case, 
he annuls the unbecoming distinction made in favor of landowners and 
officials, I shall have a very simple duty to fulfill. Do not fear for my 
strength ; it will hold out. If the King refuse his consent, I shall take it 
as a dispensation of Providence, and I shall have satisfied my sense of 
duty, and saved my honor in the eyes of my conscience. I certainly be- 
lieve that I can do as much good with my newspaper as with my musket, 
but on this point no one has a right to judge for himself; our course is 
simply to take up arms, without caviling as to the usefulness of the post 
assigned us. And therefore it is my earnest wish, to enter as a musketeer 
into one of our excellent regiments of the line, where the privates are really 
as thoroughly respectable as you find it stated, from authentic sources, in 
my journal. I shall write to you again, as soon as any thing further is 
settled. Dohna goes to-morrow to join the volunteer corps under his bro- 
ther-in-law. Be of good courage, as we are ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NIEBUHR'S RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE.— SECOND JOURNEY 
TO HOLLAND. FROM APRIL, 1813, TO MAY, 1814. 

Toward the end of April, Niebuhr received a royal summons 
to repair without delay to Dresden, where the King of Prussia, 
and the Emperor of Russia, had already arrived. In pursuance 
of the treaty of Breslau, between the two sovereigns, a central 
council had been formed, charged with the provisional administra- 
tion of the German countries reconquered from Napoleon — the 
execution of treaties with the Princes of Germany respecting the 
troops, subsidies, and supplies, to be contributed by each — and the 
appointment of government officers within the provinces under its 
jurisdiction. Stein, who acted as the representative of Russia, 
was chairman of this council ; Schoen and Niebuhr were associ- 
ated with him, as the representatives of Prussia. Both had been 
selected by Stein for the office. 

Immediately on his arrival in Dresden, Niebuhr was employed 
to negotiate with Lord Stewart respecting the subsidies to be ad- 
vanced by England, and afterward, to draw up a commercial 
treaty between England and Prussia. 

When the defeats of Liitzen and Bautzen obliged the allied 
Sovereigns to retreat to Lusatia, and afterward to Silesia, Nie- 
buhr followed the head-quarters, and witnessed the battle of Baut- 
zen from the distance of a few miles. 

The treaty concerning the subsidies was signed on the 14th of 
June, 1813, after which he remained about two months longer at 
head-quarters, now stationed in Reichenbach. Hardenberg offered 
him a temporary mission to London, but he believed that it was 
more advisable for the interests of Prussia that the treaty on which 
he was engaged should be brought to a conclusion at head-quar- 
ters, and, on his representations, Hardenberg renounced his plan. 

In the middle of August, he followed the Sovereigns to Prague. 
Here he fell ill, and had several relapses, which obliged him to 
remain there till late in the autumn. 

His relations with Stein had been any thing but satisfactory, 
during these months. The latter was in a delicate position, as 



260 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHE,. 

the representative of the Russian interests ; and, appreciating the 
necessity of supporting the Emperor Alexander in his undertak- 
ings, as the only means through which the deliverance of Germany 
could be effected, he felt it right, for the time being, to keep his 
Prussian sympathies somewhat in the background, lest the jeal- 
ousy of the Russians should be aroused, and he should be sup- 
planted in the Emperor's confidence. Schoen and Niebuhr feared 
that his German patriotism was cooling, and accused him of un- 
duly favoring the interests of Russia. This gave rise to repeated 
misunderstandings, which were aggravated by the irritability and 
petulance of Stein, who was suffering greatly from gout, at the 
moment when the cares of half Europe were resting on him. 
Niebuhr, who was by no means of a patient temper, does not 
seem to have made due allowance for Stem's situation, and the 
result was a temporary estrangement between the two friends, 
who, however, at a later period, renewed their intimacy, which 
was thenceforward only broken by death. 

In consequence of these circumstances, Niebuhr returned to 
Berlin in November, 1813. His joy at the deliverance of Ger- 
many was clouded by his sorrow for the misfortunes of Denmark. 
He and his wife were filled with anxious apprehensions respect- 
ing the fate of their friends in Holstein, for they knew that among 
the troops which occupied that province, there were many anima- 
ted with a very different spirit, from that which had been roused 
in the Prussian warriors, by the struggle for their father-land. 

About this time, Niebuhr, by official request, drew up a pro- 
ject for the constitution of Holland, which was to be submitted 
afterward to a commission, for examination. It does not appear 
whether it was finally turned to any account, but most probably 
it was not, as some passages, written at the time of the Belgian 
revolt, express his regret that his counsels had not been adopted, 
when he proposed a completely separate administration for the 
two countries. It may seem, at first sight, inconsistent, that one 
who had so often expressed his contempt for " constitution-mong- 
ers" should have attempted to draw up one himself, but it must 
not be overlooked, that he did so for a nation that already pos- 
sessed constitutional forms. 

In February, 1814, Niebuhr was sent to Holland, to negotiate 
further arrangements for subsidies with the English commission- 
ers. He set off on the 21st of February, with his wife, who was 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE 261 

in very bad health. The weather was extremely severe during 
their journey, and for a part of the way the roads were almost 
impassable. The traveling, and the living in rooms imperfectly 
warmed with open fires, was very injurious to Madame Niebuhr. 
Her obstinate cough had already awakened anxiety in her friends, 
but she was naturally of a hopeful disposition, never suspected the 
impending evil, and used to encourage her husband, when he 
sometimes expressed apprehensions, by saying, that she had often 
been worse before, and had recovered. 

By the beginning of June, the business had proceeded as far as 
it could be carried at that time ; his wife had meanwhile so far 
recovered that they were able to take a journey into Brabant. 

On his return to Amsterdam, Niebuhr received tidings of the 
renewed occupation of Holstein, but this did not prevent him from 
undertaking his proposed journey thither. There he spent his 
time in the house of his aged father, who had now become both 
blind and lame. His friends assembled round him, and the time 
passed happily and too quickly away, for it was impossible not to 
feel sometimes that such a meeting could never recur. Niebuhr 
could not hope to see his father again, and his friends saw but too 
clearly that Madame Niebuhr would never be able to revisit 
them. She herself was still full of hope, and ready sympathy 
with all around her, and this seemed to blind her husband to her 
real danger. 

On his return to Berlin, Niebuhr was requested to give the 
Crown Prince instruction in finance. He was thus brought fre- 
quently into contact with the young prince, whom he inspired 
with a warm and lasting attachment, while the talents and 
amiability of his royal pupil won his affection in return. 

Toward the close of 1814, Niebuhr wrote a pamphlet entitled, 
" The Rights of Prussia against the Court of Saxony," one of the 
most spirited and able productions of his pen ; the object of which 
was to refute the libels against Prussia, industriously circulated 
throughout Germany by the partisans of France and Saxony. It 
excited great attention, and had a rapid safe. The Prussian gov- 
ernment formally expressed their thanks to him for it, and re- 
quested him to send a hundred copies to Vienna, and to get it 
translated into English. 

Niebuhr' s domestic happiness was clouded over with mournful 
apprehensions. His wife's symptoms grew more and more alarm- 



J62 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ing, and he could not conceal from himself, that she became 
weaker after each short interval of improvement. Besides these 
personal sorrows, he was deeply grieved by the final decision of 
the Congress of Vienna. The partition of Saxony appeared to 
him very disadvantageous for that country itself, and the cession 
of East Friesland to Hanover pained him exceedingly, as destroy- 
ing the possibility of Prussia's becoming a maritime power. He 
saw in all the terms of the convention, a prevailing desire to 
weaken Prussia, and by placing her in opposition to France, to 
sow the seeds of her dismemberment at some future period. 

Napoleon's return from Elba roused him from his melancholy 
contemplations. Like many other Prussians, his first emotions at 
the intelligence were rather of joy than of sorrow. He fancied 
that it would produce instant union between the Allied Powers, 
and that the influence of Prussia would be increased by the new 
struggle, in which she would once more have to play a principal 
part. 

But when Napoleon's power established itself without opposi- 
tion in France, he shuddered at the prospect of the perilous con- 
flict about to be renewed, and the consequences of a protracted 
war on the prosperity of the country, and the morality and edu- 
cation of its youth. 

While oppressed by these domestic and political cares, he re- 
ceived tidings of the death of his father in April, 1815. 

Extracts from Niebuhr's Letters from the Spring of 1813 to 
May, 1814. 

CLXVI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Dresden, 3d May, 1813. 

From my letter to my father, which you will have read at Meldorf, you 
will have seen that I have been summoned here. I received the order on 
Monday night at eleven o'clock, and the next day at noon we were in the 
carriage. Goschen has undertaken the editorship of the journal for a time. 
Milly is writing to you about our journey. We feared we should not get 
accommodation here at oace, as the Emperor Alexander and our king were 
here with their retinue ; but all was right. We found room in the first 
hotel we stopped at, and the day before yesterday we were quartered at a 
private house, where we are living in style. 

Negotiations with England respecting subsidies are my immediate em- 
ployment. I have to act with Baron von Hardenberg and M. von Stein. 
I had not seen the former since my retirement from office, but his behavior 
toward me is just what it used to be, and as if our connection had never been 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE. 263 

interrupted. Stein is unequal (perhaps he is soured by his misfortunes), 
and hence it is often difficult to deal with him. 

Yesterday and to-day, we have been in constant anxious expectation of 
a battle. Our latest positive intelligence is of the day before yesterday, 
and then a battle was daily expected. A cannonade was heard in this 
neighborhood yesterday; we are awaiting with beating hearts the tidings 
which must soon arrive, unless the cannonade was a delusion, or only pro- 
ceeded from an unimportant affair. We know that the French army is by 
no means so small as it was foolishly represented to be ; and know that we 
have an extremely hard struggle before us. The excellence of our army 
gives us confidence. 

As I am busy all the mornings in conferences or at my desk, we have 
seen little here as yet. We have been once to the Gallery. 

The intelligence we have received here from Denmark makes us very un- 
easy. God grant, that the apparently insurmountable difficulties may ad- 
mit of a solution. 

Goethe had left this place before our arrival, and from the accounts we 
hear of his political bitterness, his sinister prophecies, and his ill-humor, I 
am well pleased not to have seen him now. I have not yet made acquaint- 
ance with any of the residents here. 

It vexes one to be living in an occupied country which takes no part in 
the war. In Berlin, the universal activity and enthusiasm, the warlike 
preparations, &c, constantly inspired cheerfulness and courage. But the 
people are German in their hearts, of which we had many touching proofs 
on our way hither, in the country districts. 

God be with us all ! Give my love to my father and all our relations. 

CLXVII. 

Neumarkt, in Silesia, 25th May, 1813. 

I presume that Behrens has forwarded to you the letter which 

I wrote him from Liegnitz on the 16th. I shall therefore continue my 
account from the time when we resolved to return to Gorlitz, where the 
administrative head-quarters had been meanwhile erected. We performed 
the journey from Liegnitz thither very quickly ; passing through a beauti- 
ful district, full of towns, whose buildings and environs betrayed their for- 
mer prosperity, which has now been almost every where destroyed by the 
wars of 1805-6. But since poverty has universally taken the place of 
this prosperity, and the cloth and linen manufactures find no sale, nothing 
but a steadfast hope of better times can keep one from being positively 
depressed and saddened by the signs of former opulence. Through the 
greater part of this country the scenery is magnificent, and Milly and I 
have both said to each other, how much we should like to visit this 
beautiful Silesia some day with you ; but this time I was much too anx- 
ious to enjoy it. Gorlitz was greatly altered since our former stay there. 
Then, too, the long market-like main street of the town was thronged with 
an endless train of wagons, but they were filled with the wounded, who 
were being carried to the hospitals. Now, there was nothing of this kind, 
but the town swarmed with the troops quartered there, and the streets 
and squares were full of Russian equipages, round which the horses were 
stationed, as in a camp. With some difficulty, we found a place at an 
hotel where we could put up our carriage and horses, and hired a room^t 



264 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the house of our former hostess, a good-natured citizen's wife. I "found 
that nothing was lost by my absence ; for the business which I had been 
summoned to transact — in which, however, I can not act till others have 
prepared the way for me — stood exactly at the same point as before my 
departure from Dresden, and had rather gone backward than forward. I 
can not now relate to you how I found an opportunity the day after my 
arrival to bring it, at one stroke, almost to a settlement, and by what un- 
accountable carelessness this opportunity was lost. We now learnt that 
the armies had been standing opposite to each other for some days, ready 
for fighting, and there could be no doubt that the French would soon at- 
tack, as they were suffering from want of provisions. The position of the 
allied army was not above five miles at most from Gorlitz. and our situa- 
tion in this town so insecure, that we could not think too soon of taking 
precautions for our safety. For, although a bridge of boats had been 
thrown across the Neisse below the town, in case of a retreat, full half the 
army, with the baggage, artillery, &c, would still have to take the road 
through the town, and over the bridge which connects it with the suburb. 
Upper Lusatia is a mountainous and very beautiful district, and its towns 
lie on the summits or slopes of hills ; thus, Gorlitz, properly speaking, con- 
sists, like Edinburgh, of only one long and very broad street, stretching 
along the ridge of a hill, that becomes so narrow and steep, as it slopes 
down toward the bridge, as to require great care at all times to stop the 
horses in descending it. It will be long before I shall be able to think of 
this defile without a shudder. It was easy to foresee that we should re- 
main here till a battle had taken place, and then hundreds would be want- 
ing post-horses at once, if it were necessary to retreat. We were, there- 
fore, obliged to secure our safety by purchasing horses, and engaging a 
coachman. Thus we made our arrangements, so as to await the last 
moment with as little danger as the position of the town allowed. 

On Wednesday, 19th, the bloody and glorious engagement of Konigs- 
wartha took place on the right wing of our army. On the following day 
(20th) at noon, while the corps under Barclay de Tolly, which had gained 
this advantage in conjunction with that under General York, was still dis- 
tant from the head-quarters, the main army of the French made an at- 
tack upon our whole line, especially on the right wing. This attack was re- 
pulsed with great loss to them, and we maintained ourselves every where 
in the position which we had assumed at the commencement of the fight 
behind Bautzen. All the disadvantage of the day was on the side of the 
enemy, except that the disposition of our troops allowed him to take pos- 
session of some ground, which our out-posts had occupied before the begin- 
ning of the affair. We had taken cannons and made prisoners. General 
Kleist and his division distinguished themselves above all others. Toward 
evening, Barclay de Tolly came up with the army. The firing ceased 
when the darkness came on ; but the renewal of the battle next day was 
inevitable : it re-commenced on the 21st at about four in the morning.* 

Neither in thi3 engagement did we lose a single cannon ; but, on 

the other hand, some of our badly-wounded were left on the field, because 
the miserable avarice of the Russian soldiers as regards every sort of vehi- 
cle, had caused the removal of all the carriages and horses in the neigh- 

* Here follows a description of the battle, which, however is sufficiently known 
from other sources. 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE. 265 

borhood, far to the rear of the army. Our loss in dead and wounded was 
not so great in the three days together, from the 19th to the 21st, as it 
was in the battle of the 2d. During the retreat next day, a brisk cannon- 
ade was kept up, but without effect. In Reichenbach, a skirmish took 
place with the rear-guard, in which the French cavalry, having ventured 
too far in advance, lost 400 prisoners. (The left wing had. also captured 
cannons and prisoners on the 21st.) On the following days, likewise, the 
firing was kept up on both sides, but there was no actual fighting. The 
sad truth is, however, that the allied army has continued its retreat from 
Lusatia, across the borders of Silesia. Still we are encouraged by remem- 
bering that a new Russian army under General Sacken has already passed 
through Breslau, and is advancing by forced marches to meet the retreat- 
ing one ; that the reserve battalions will soon arrive, and will fully repair 
our losses, so that in a few days the allied army is certain to be more 
numerous than it was before the battle of Bautzen ; and that before long 
we may expect a diversion in our neighborhood from Austria, although, in- 
deed, a general like Napoleon will not suffer himself to be disturbed in his 
plans by the more remote movements of the larger Austrian army. But 
if he be forced (as we hope to God he will be) to come to a stand before 
our iron resistance, our country will still suffer terribly. However, in that 
case, he must almost inevitably see his army broken to pieces. In this 
hope, though with mournful hearts, we have traveled to Breslau, where I 
shall finish this letter, uncertain whither I shall next be summoned. 

On Thursday, the firing sounded very near and loud, but we listened to 
it with great hope, because we had learnt in the morning the victory of 
the day before : when, on Friday, the sound drew nearer, and became 
frightfully distinct and. violent in the afternoon, we grew very anxious. 
Stein then advised us to depart. "We made our preparations ; the car- 
riage was loaded ; but we did not like to leave until we had some positive 
intelligence. Till past eleven at night, I went about from one acquaint- 
ance to another, to try if I could learn any thing, but all the accounts I 
heard were vague and undecided. Still I could guess from them that a 
retreat was resolved on. Many Russian equipages had left already during 
the afternoon ; and toward night, thick rows of wagons began to defile 
through the town. We, with some of our friends, had settled that if any 
decisive intelligence arrived, we were to be called at any hour of the night. , 
About midnight we laid down in our clothes. It had not struck one, when 
they shouted under our windows that every one was leaving, and we had 
no wish to linger. The evening before, the coachman we had engaged, 
frightened at the idea of wandering, heaven knows how far, from his na- 
tive town had taken his departure, and we should have been in most ter- 
rible perplexity if our own servant had not known how to drive. One of 
our horses was sick ; however, we started, and got through the close ranks 
of the wagons in the dark without accident, and through the narrow pass 
I have described above, where we were obliged to drive up close against 
tiie side of the street to pass Stadion's equipage. We have seen war in 
a horrible form ; we have passed through bands of pillagers, and crowds 
of beasants who had flocked together to defend themselves from being 
plundered. Our good star has not forsaken us. I must conclude, in order 
to send this letter by post. 

M 



266 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

CLXVIII. 

Reichenbach, 16^ June, 1813. 
We have at last received two letters from you, which have been sent 

about from place to place 

I think that, while we were still in Dresden, I mentioned to you, that 
the change in my residence and society was any thing but cheering. At 
Berlin, the consciousness of the excellent spirit which animated the nation 
was ever present to us ; and yet we were sufficiently removed from the 
sight of all that is saddening in the actual details of the war. We lived 
with all the energies of our souls and hearts in action, and each one de- 
rived his belief in the immeasurable energy of the nation, from his own 
inward consciousness. It was this which made us so full of confidence. 
In Dresden, we were separated from the nation, and its most excellent 
part, the army, and transported into a circle of fashionable people who 
were strangers to us, at least there were only a few of our public men 
among them. Here we saw as exclusively what was commonplace, as at 
home what was beautiful and good. The few eminent men were, how- 
ever, among my friends. And of well-digested plans, of creative ideas, 
of enthusiasm or love, I saw no trace. 

It is far from enough, to say that our troops have fought with unexam- 
pled heroism ; to feel as high a respect for them as they deserve, it must 
not only be remembered, that they were placed at the absolute command 
of foreign generals, who have not maintained their previous reputation, 
and thus have become the victims of their mistakes and unskillfulness ; 
but also that their own superior officers were deficient in experience and 
sagacity. And as regards the inferior officers, the best of them were often 
wanting either in experience or cool blood ; they have lavished away their 
lives. But in spite of all this, our comparatively small army, at all times 
only partially supported by our allies (it is but just to say, however, that 
whenever Russian divisions have come to an actual engagement, they have 
fought extremely well, only not with enthusiasm), and opposed to an im- 
mensely superior force, has achieved things which would have been held 
impossible, because each man has fought, as if all depended upon himself 
alone. Battalions, nearly the whole of whose officers have been shot off 
or wounded, have fought on with the greatest order. In addition to this, 
the patience of our troops, their quiet resignation when they have seen 
the fruits of their exploits surrendered without a cause, their morality, 
their discipline — not a single instance of excess is named, not one soldier 
has pillaged on the retreat — is so elevating, that one can not but feel a 
true reverence for such an army. God knows what will be the fate of 
Germany and ourselves. If, however, what might be the means of a most 
glorious deliverance should, through the fault of others, remain ineffectual, 
the freedom of Germany will close with a glory for Prussia, which will 
throw Frederick's military greatness into the shade. Would the army be 
as pure if we had him with us now ? I scarcely think so, and yet it 
might be so, and then we could defy once more the united power of the 
whole world. 

By the unanimous verdict of the army itself, Colonel Von Grollman is 
one of the first officers it contains, and it shows the spirit which animates 
our officers, that lieutenant-generals of advanced aga, have declared that 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE. 267 

they would willingly obey him, if the king would intrust him with the 
command. He and I have long known each other byname, and cherished 
a mutual respect and affection, but I only became personally acquainted 
with him three days ago, and I have never before seen such a man. York 
and Kleist are most noble-minded men, who think of nothing but the gen- 
eral welfare. 

On the 2d of May, the French only took a single unwounded Prussian 
prisoner. In all partial engagements, we, and the Russians also, are cer- 
tain of victory. 

I write unconnectedly to you, because I can only write about the sur- 
face of things, and that is of immense extent ; if I dared to go to the bot- 
tom, I could say all in a few words. 

I saw the king at Breslau ; he was very gracious, and said it gave him 
much pleasure to see me again in his service. But I shall soon have ar- 
ranged the business, for which I was summoned, because there was no one 
else who understood the matter besides myself; and will there be any thing 
further thought of afterward ? I do not wish for any thing on my own 
account ; that I can say with a safe eonscience. 

Now I must tell you a little about ourselves. I returned from Sch we id- 
nit z the day after I had written to you, and brought the intelligence that 
a truce had been concluded for twelve hours, and that a longer one was 
being negotiated.* Our pain on hearing this I will not describe to you. 
There is much to be urged both for and against an armistice ; but only 
let people ask themselves, without descending to all the details, whether 
a longer armistice with such an enemy can be a good thing. It alleviates 
our apprehensions respecting it, that all we do is in conjunction with 
Austria, and in accordance with our good understanding with that power ; 
and besides, that our preparation for war will be carried on with all possi- 
ble zeal and activity. It is a guarantee that our government are in earn- 
est, that the day before yesterday, they signed a treaty of alliance with 
England, stipulating for subsidies, which are to furnish the means of paying 
the expenses of the war. The consciousness that I have helped to further 
this work gives me great joy. 

We came hither on the 6th June from Frankenstein. This little town 
has been quite swarming with human beings for the last ten days. We 
arrived here some hours before the great body, and hence were able to ob- 
tain a very good room in an hotel, which we much prefer to being quartered 
in a private house. These ten days have been spent in bringing about the 
treaty, in which verbal negotiations did more than written papers. It is 
beginning to grow a little quieter here now; the people are dispersing in 
various directions. The Emperor Alexander has set off for Bohemia to- 
day, to have a meeting with his sister. Many think that he will have an 
interview with the Emperor of Austria ; that is hardly probable 

CLXIX. 

TO THE PRINCESS LOUISA. 

Reichenbach, July 12th. 
Your Royal Highness will be better acquainted than I am with the mel 
ancholy situation of our country — discontented, disappointed, and aban- 
* The armistice of Pleswitz, concluded for six weeks from Jane 4th. 



268 MEMOIR OF NIEBT7HR. 

doned to ruin, as it seems, by shallow egotists, who doubtless, in their 
hearts, have despised, from the first, the tokens of inspiration and heroic 
virtue given by our country, and who will probably end by making these 
very virtues a ground of accusation against it, and a reason of state for 
sacrificing and annihilating a nation, because it can not remain immovable 
and without feeling like a slave, up to the moment when it may please the 
cabinet to let it loose against those who stand in the way of some tem- 
porary advantage. We were very credulous, so far as we placed our 
trust in men ; yet who can repent the wishes that he has cherished ? — 
wishes which might serve as a guide to the government, would they receive 
counsel. 

It is possible that our nation may sink into a condition far beneath its 
state previous to the war ; but no nation has ever done or deserved more 
to reconquer freedom and happiness. We can not but feel, that it pos- 
sesses within itself means of victory which far surpassed even the possible 
dreams of enthusiasts : and, if we are vanquished, that triumph might 
have been secured by our own resources alone, had our rulers understood 
how to make use of them ; nay, perhaps, it would have been enough to 
insure success, had we got rid of the men, at whose disposal they have 
been placed through mistaken trust and complaisance. No one ought to 
feel more than Stein, the deep sadness which is inspired by the view of our 
misfortunes ; he, however, strives apparently to escape from it, by giving 
way to fits of ill-temper and even passion, with all who suffer from it as 
he ought to suffer. In fact, hardly a shadow is left of the old ties which 
once bound me to him 5 we can not carry on a connected conversation ; 
we must avoid the topics which most deserve our attention, if I do not 
wish to draw on myself attacks, which are always unreasonable, and would 
be unendurable to any one who had not formerly loved him. What makes 
my relation toward him most embarrassing is, that my path would be much 
clearer if I allowed matters to come to a complete breach. If one does 
but make a remark, he instantly contradicts it, and always in a very un- 
suitable manner, as though it were an absolute absurdity. 

I could never have believed, that a time would come when I should go 
to see him, and be glad not to find him at home. Yet I have still so 
much tenderness for him left, that I am always touched, when I find him 
calm and open to a conversation in the least resembling those of the good 
old times, and I shall bear with him to the end because fate has inflicted 
wounds upon his heart which he seeks to hide even from himself; and it 
is precisely this discord in his inner nature which renders him unendurable 
to others. For the rest, he has changed his opinion of many men and 
things ; at Dresden, he wrote me an insulting note, because I ventured to 
doubt the honesty of an individual, of whom he now speaks with the great- 
est contempt. I should not have written all this to your Royal Highness, 
had I been obliged to intrust this letter to the post, which is very insecure. 
For the only branch of government carried on with zeal by our present 
Minister* is the strict watch kept on all persons who are induced to despise 
him, for abandoning us to the consequences of his own incapacity and 
indolence, and the crimes of the miserable creatures with whom he has 
surrounded himself. 

* Hardenberg. 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE. 269 

CLXX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Prague, llh October, 1813. 

We were more than two months at Reichenbach. The little 

town was crowded with human beings. The executive, embassadors, the ad- 
ministration of the army, and a swarm of officers (mostly Russians) filled it 
to overflowing. The market-place was always heaped with baggage-wagons, 
beside which the Cossacks bivouacked. There was a continual bustle and 
noise, and yet, being a time of truce, none of the exciting activity of war. 

I return to the account of our stay at Reichenbach. The armis- 
tice and congress of Prague had a disheartening and paralyzing effect upon 
the minds of all. I was happily of the number of those who (with the 
exception of a few moments, when appearances were so unfavorable that 
they irresistibly led us astray.) persevered in believing, that the pressure 
of circumstances would bring about a result, which many of those at the 
head of affairs would rather not have seen ; and therefore I was not in bad 
spirits. But it is a miserable condition when you are impelled by every 
motive to concentrate all your faculties on the consideration of a single 
point, and yet can perceive nothing distinctly. It is certain that the 
Russian cabinet, and a party in their army, were inclined to peace ;* but 
the Emperor Alexander was most inflexible, and we owe him many thanks 
for it. Among ourselves, the peace party was extremely small, and all its 
activity was confined to pitiful intrigues ; the nation, as well as the army, 
cried loudly for perseverance ; the Austrians had advanced far enough, and 
constantly became more deeply implicated with us ; though this much is 
certain, that their ultimatum would have proved to be none at all, if the 
Emperor Napoleon would have made the smallest concession. 

It was exactly on this blind, arrogant obstinacy that I built my hopes, 
and on Fate, which is determined to be avenged on him. Nevertheless, 
when the congress assembled, and so many things came to light, I had no 
lack of anxieties and fears. We had a numerous circle of society. General 
Stewart, the English envoy at our court, with whom I had more particu- 
larly to negotiate the treaty of alliance and subsidies, has become my 

friend in the true sense of the word Prince Radziwill visited us from 

time to time. Through him I became acquainted with the young Prince 
Czartorinsky ; and found him to be a most intellectual and highly-culti- 
vated man, filled with sorrow for the fate of his country. A Saxon, Colonel 
Von Carlo witz, who came to us with General Thieleman, had already 
pleased me much in Dresden, and I now found his society very agreeable, 
particularly as he was the only person with whom I could converse on 
matters unconnected with the present moment, since he possessed a great 
amount of historical information. Solly was about half the time there. 
An English Colonel Campbell and I struck up a warm friendship. I was 
on a very friendly footing with several other Englishmen. Ompteda, the 
Hanoverian embassador (cousin to the Countess Minister) pleased us much 
by his warm-hearted honesty. The Russian embassador, Alopseus, is a 
polished and sagacious man of the world. Arndt we saw but seldom ; but" 

* See Stein's Leben, Book vi., sec. 4. The Court, including the Empres 
Mother and several of the generals, wanted to force Alexander into making 
peace. 



270 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

he is an honest soul, and full of life and warmth A great number 

of officers visited us. While there I became more intimate with our ex- 
cellent Colonel Grollman, and he exceeded my expectations, which were 
not slight. He would be the general for Germany. I think he is also 
attached to me. I love him so that my heart beats whenever I think of 
him. M. Von Stein I saw almost daily. 

They thought of sending me to England ; but under circumstances in 
which I could do little good. I succeeded in convincing Baron Hardenberg 
that the idea was ill-advised, and the expense unnecessary. He after- 
ward offered to send me formally as envoy extraordinary, and I expressed 
my readiness to accept such a mission, but submitted it to his consid- 
eration, whether the advantage would be great enough to be worth the 
expense. (My position there would in other respects be more agreeable 
than that of any other embassador, because I am personally acquainted 
with so many men of note.) On my representations, I at length received 
the reply that Baron Hardenberg thought the mission superfluous for' the 
present. When the conclusion of the armistice was announced, and the 
head-quarters were removed to Bohemia, we followed also. I staid two 
days in Landeck, to arrange business with Hardenberg and Stewart. On 
the 21st we came on to this place.-* 

If you admired the spirit with which our nation took up arms, your 
admiration must be heightened now, when you see this spirit living on 
with undiminished vigor, amid distress, innumerable difficulties, and many 
disheartening circumstances. Our troops fought like lions. The newly- 
formed battalions of militia, many of which had scarcely any officers who 
had seen service, fought like veteran regiments, only with too much fury. 

A nation containing less than 5,000,000, impoverished, torn by 

internal convulsions for the last seven years, has sent forth more than 
250,000 men into the field, with comparatively slight assistance from for- 
eign powers ; and when has an army ever fought with more heroic valor 
for their own and the general freedom ? 

This is acknowledged very warmly here ; the brotherly affection and 
kindness which the inhabitants have shown to the wounded, is probably 
without a parallel. It is above all praise. The friendship between Prussia 
and Austria has been restored on a stable foundation, and we may securely 
trust that the government, as well as the nation, are sincerely desirous of 
promoting our interests. Austria entered into the war with reluctance, but 
will unite faithfully and perseveringly with us, in carrying it to a happy 
oonclusion. 

CLXXI. 

TO PERTHES. 
Frankfort on the Oder, December, 1813. 

You will, no doubt, easily obtain a promise, guaranteeing the 

independence of your towns ; I think that is among the settled points. I 
should have been much surprised if you had obtained more, for it appears 
that the decision of the positive changes to be made, is to be left to some 
more distant time. 

* Here follows an account of an illness which he had in Prague, and a summary 
of the events of the war. 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE. 271 

Your picture of the misfortunes of Hamburgh is terrible, and yet I be- 
lieve it is not exaggerated in a single feature. Only do not imagine that 
Hamburgh stands alone in its misery; the condition of Stettin, Dantzic, 
for example, not to speak of the Spanish towns, is still worse. And who 
can help it '? And what claim can a single city make, to receive assist- 
ance from all the rest — from those who have suffered quite as much, and 
at the same time (you will neither deny it nor misconstrue me) have done 
infinitely more ? With us here in Prussia, likewise, nine-tenths of the 
landowners, both in town and country, are ruined, and yet they must still 
go on paying contributions — it can not be otherwise — till they are cut 
down to the bone. Many, many thousands of our youth, of our men, are 
shedding their blood, are pining away their lives in hospitals, or in want 
and wretchedness ; what have the Hanse Towns done ? I do not reproach 
them for the passive surrender of the city, but certainly see in it nothing 
heroic, no tiling that lays other states under a moral obligation to make 

sacrifices in their behalf. 

It is a terrible thing that a city should be ruined for two generations : 
but how long did Magdeburg lie in ruins and ashes ? Is it often that we 
can give help where we would? Must we not rather be resigned t© cir- 
cumstances ? You have enjoyed the advantages of independence : the 
helplessness of a city, which stands alone as a state, is inseparable from 
them. In a great state, all may unite to raise up a single ruined city. 
It has, as such, no national debt. For a single city to have a large na- 
tional debt, is to have a monster devouring its vitals. Even Holland, al- 
though it is little more than an assemblage of towns, can survive a bank- 
ruptcy : and perhaps it will be a benefit to the nation. The experiment 
had been made once already, since the war of 1672, by the permanent re- 
duction of one and a half per cent, in the dividends. With you the case 
is certainly somewhat different ; but you must not fold your hands and say 
that it is once for all impossible that any of you should live to see the 

restoration of your old prosperity 

My poor, poor Holstein ! O that you could hasten back, and protect my 
relations ! There seems to be a deliberate intention to turn that land into 
a desert, because every heart in it is with Germany. My blood boils at 
this atrocity — which raises the indignation of our real allies and the English 
— at this arbitrary move to the north, from which none but the French can 
reap any advantage. That the Cossacks should commit ravages, is a mat- 
ter of course ; but do you really expect it of the Hanseatic soldiers, that 
they, like all other newly-formed troops, would choose to ''indemnify" 
themselves in this manner? The real Prussians among Liitzow's regi- 
ments will not wish to indemnify themselves by outrage and cruelty. A 
Prussian never plunders, even in an enemy's country; Holstein is not an 
enemy to any German. Are these your Hanseatic citizens, toward whom 
your heart overflows with affection ! If they are really such as you say, 
if sorrow works thus upon them, so differently from its effect upon the 
Prussians, let them go to the devil ! The French custom-house officers, 
and all Davoust's crew were also a set of hungry wretches, and wanted to 
indemnify themselves. I can make sacrifices too, but it does exasperate 
me, to see all that I love best given up to bands of marauders without any 
object. God would give me strength, if necessary, to bombard a town that 
contained my dearest friends, but to see an innocent country abandoned to 



272 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

pillage, to see people, who are among the noblest of their times, reduced 
to misery, by an unprincipled policy and rapacity — I cry to Heaven for 
vengeance on it ! 

CLXXII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 21st December, 1813. 

With what anguished hearts we have looked forward to your letter, you 
will have seen from the one I wrote you on Saturday. The most fearful 
images rose up and scared away our sleep, and on waking they returned 
with all their painful reality. They mingled themselves with our dreams ; 
and in the absence of intelligence, one even transforms the shapes of fancy 
into data, which heighten one's vague terror. Had you been visited by 
Prussian troops of the line, we should have been free from apprehensions 
for your personal safety ; but those who came to Holstein from us, were 
only free corps, raw recruits and strangers, or the dregs of the capital, and 
the rest were all foreigners, and for the most part such as had reckoned 
upon booty. And now, letters were received here from the army, giving 
an account of the devastation of the country ; and these were succeeded 
by the bulletin which left no doubt that Tettenbom had gone to Husum, 
and little, of his having taken the route through Meldorf. 

God be praised, that our apprehensions on your account are, to a certain 
extent, allayed, by learning that the actual horrors of war are no longer 
probable in the towns ; but we are still looking forward with undiminished 
terror to the probable fate of Husum and Meldorf. 

We are assured here, that the conclusion of the peace with Denmark 
may be regarded as certain, and I have long felt satisfied that it would be 
brought to pass. This could be foreseen ; and, therefore, I was filled with 
sorrowful indignation by the conviction that Holstein would be made to 
suffer, solely as a means of compelling the cession of Norway, and would 
be doubly punished in order to revenge the limitation of the claims brought 
about by the intervention. 

Thus, though our fears for you may be calmed, by finding that you have 
weathered the storm without sustaining much outward injury, I shall still 
mourn over the poor country, whose prosperity has been fruitlessly destroyed, 
like some unhappy victim whose fate it has been to experience only those 
sorrows which humiliate and enfeeble, and has had no opportunity to make 
those sacrifices by which individuals and nations are purified and exalted. 

Of all the letters you have written since the beginning of July, we have 
only received one, dated the beginning of October ; not even the one sent 
through Count Bombelles. None of the letters which Count Dohna sent 
to the head-quarters, with his own dispatches, have reached me. Owing 
to this uncertainty, I hardly know what to tell you of the months that 
have passed since our correspondence was interrupted, without repeating 
what you already know. 

When you last saw Berlin, an avalanche was impending over us, whose 
crushing fall we were expecting from month to month. While it hung 
over us, it deprived us of air and sun ; we could do nothing but resign 
ourselves to what appeared, to human eyes, our unalterable fate, as men in 
similar periods of the world had been forced to do, and confine ourselves to 
the little sphere we could still oall our own, till imperious Destiny should 



RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE. 273 

step in. It was certainly, indeed, at that time permitted to us to forget 
the outer world of the present, and to hury ourselves in pleasant studies, 
and by this distraction of our thoughts, to live as happily as was possible 
under such circumstances. How all is changed around us now ! Never 
have good will and good ideas ripened so universally into good deeds as 
with our people. He who had beforehand declared what ought to be done 
when the time of trial should come, did it now himself (with very few ex- 
ceptions), and to the fullest extent. The behavior of the women, too, is ' 
admirable. There are hundreds, who not only renounce every pleasure, 
but even a close attention to their households, in order to superintend the 
hospitals, to cook, to tend the sick, to mend their linen, to procure money 
and other necessaries, to look after the hired nurses, and keep them up to 
then duty. Many have already fallen victims to typhus fever. The men 
can scarcely interfere with the regular course of these occupations, which 
have assumed quite an organized character. 

All that is the spontanous expression of the national mind, is elevating. 
The recruits leave their homes with shouts of rejoicing ; practice the exer- 
cise together out of the hours for training, that they may be able to join 
the army so much the sooner. And this is not done that they may lead 
a merry life of excess : the soldier hungers when his host can give him no- 
thing, rather than use violence ; he gives his cloak to his captive when he 
is shivering himself. One can not speak of these things without emotion, 
without saying to one's self that these people are better than we should be 
in their place. Our guards are as modest in their requirements as a regi- 
ment of militia, and yet they are the finest and bravest troops in the world. 
The officers are patterns to their soldiors. And all the people of North 
Germany might be like these, if they could be united, and brought to a 
common recognition of each other's excellence by seeing it in action. The 
core is sound here ; what is wrong on the outside will be remedied in time 
from within. The King respects the nation. I am delighted with the 
Crown Prince. His noble poetical nature is gradually beginning to be 
recognized by some. He has extraordinary depth of feeling; and he pre- 
serves his individuality of character, sometimes without effort, sometimes 
consciously, among people who do not understand him, and are always 
blaming him. There is something very uncommon about him; the King 
calls his strongest feelings into play. He gives promise of great days for 
Prussia and for Germany — of the fulfillment of all that is yet wanting. 

CLXXIII. 

Berlin, 25lh January, 1814. 

...... The conditions of the treaty of peace suggest more thoughts than 

can be committed to paper. The cession of Swedish Pomerania will have 
scarcely been expected by any : the submissiveness of Denmark was to be 
anticipated. The very first movement against Holstein grieved me so 
much, because I foresaw how the matter would end ; how the energies of 
the country would be exhausted without any prospect of corresponding 
good results. The Allies could only permit the Danish war as an episode, 
and every thing betrays a determination to avoid any crisis by which mat- 
ters would be brought to a settlement, as if they intentionally husbanded 
materials for future wars. 

With what different feelings from those which filled our minds during 
at* 



274 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the summer, is our attention now directed to the theatre of war? We 
may now dare to cherish brilliant hopes ; and even if, here and there, the 
tide of our good fortune should turn, we need fear nothing that can affect 
the decision of our fate. I belong to the small number of those who do 
not seriously build castles in the air about the advance of the allied armies 
to Paris : I can not yet feel sure that Napoleon is sufficiently weakened 
for me to desire it ; for if it is to be accomplished merely as a feat of arms, 
and were not absolutely decisive, it would be most undesirable. The peace 
is universally believed to be very near ; but it can scarcely be so, if the 
restoration of the frontiers, as they existed before the revolution, be insisted 
on. We seem to be dreaming when we now take up the maps we used 
one-and-twenty years ago. I wish that those in whose hands the decision 
lies, may remember that it is no dream, but that they really have the 
power in their own hands, as much as our enemies had sixteen months ago. 
In France, the nation is so weary that the Allies are received as friends. 
In Savoy, where the custom-house officers have fled, when the people re- 
covered their independence, they shouted viva / not to their old Sovereign, 
but to our King. 

We are reading Madame de Stael's work on Germany : we have only 
just got the first two volumes. These are very unequal in value ; the 
second, which treats of the German drama, and contains translations of 
several long passages, &c, is very unsatisfactory 5 and makes most of the 
chapters in the first, seem all the more excellent by comparison. The 
chapters on Goethe, North Germany, and Vienna, are extremely good, and 
even the great mistakes and omissions in some of her accounts prove that 
the book can not have been written by Schlegel under her name. He can 
not even have seen it before it was printed. She speaks of Goethe with 
profound respect, and portrays him with the most delicate accuracy, which 
docs wonderful honor to her sagacity. It is evident that she has guessed 
him, for all her translations show that she does not half understand the 
words of his poems. Her attempt to render them into prose (she even 
tries at the Bride of Corinth) is an utter failure. 

St. followed the head-quarters as far as Freyburg, and has now arrived 
here. I hear from him that, a month ago, they talked in the most decided 
manner of sending me as a commissioner to Holland ; he had been assured 
that the dispatches were to be sent off to me without delay, and therefore 
supposed me to be in Amsterdam. I have not heard even a word on the 
subject. Probably, as soon as I have made arrangements for working reg- 
ularly again at my newspaper, I shall be called away on a sudden. Since 
my return, I have only written single articles in it ; Arnim has been the 
editor up to this time, but it is now going into other hands. 

Milly is busy to-day making bandages for the hospital, and it affects her 
weak eyes so much that she can not write. She sends her best love, and 
will write to you soon. 

CLXXIV. 

Amsterdam, 10th March, 1814. 
Our present visit to Amsterdam is very unlike our former resi- 
dence here six years ago, when the greater part of my time passed in leis- 
ure and deep repose, which were extremely beneficial to me. I am now as 
full of business and engagements, as I ever was in my life; but I hope to 



SECOND VISIT TO HOLLAND. 275 

have the satisfaction of rendering important services, which will give me a 
right to return, when the world is once more quiet, to that literary leisure 
in which, in ordinary times, I fulfill the peculiar vocation of my life. My 
position here is as agreeable as possible. My English fellow-commissioner, 
a Chevalier Bergman, is a very polished and clever man, who thoroughly 
understands the subject ; we are already very good friends, and treat each 
other like fellow-countrymen. Hence my society naturally consists, for the 
most part, of Englishmen, who treat me with great confidence and cor- 
diality. Their mode of life is certainly something new to me. The day 
before yesterday, I came home about midnight, from a dinner-party where 
we had sat at table till eleven o'clock. 

On our way hither, we had the sorrow of learning all that had passed in 
Champagne from the 10th to the 26th.* Our first intelligence was drawn 
from the French statements respecting England, published in the Dutch 
newspapers ; our next from the account of an Austrian, according to which 
our armies sustained little less than total defeat, and their retreat was to 
be continued across the frontiers, and the Ehine ; but it was much to be 
feared, that only a small part of the army would come out of the struggle 
in good condition. This depressed me terribly. It is certain, too, that it 
would have come to this, but for the heroic constancy of Blucher's troops. 
Thank God, the former position of the conflicting powers seems now to be 
restored. We do not know a syllable respecting our friends in the army, 
and the battles have been so murderous, that some mournful tidings must 
be awaiting us. Neither can we shut our eyes to the fact, that the diffi- 
culties are greater now, than they would have been a month ago, if Blucher 
had not been left in the lurch. It has not been Wrede's fault ; may God 
reward him for it ! The Russians, too, have always done their duty bravely 
and honestly. Now, when the Dutch nation is called on to display other 
virtues than those of the passive and limited kind, which won my admira- 
tion six years ago, it certainly does not appear in a favorable point of 
view, especially to us who have acquired, from what we have witnessed, a 
standard of virtue, such as was unknown at that time. Heroism is utterly 
absent ; no one will even serve in the army, who is not compelled by pov- 
erty to sell his life for the sake of the bounty. It is universally permitted 
to send substitutes even for the militia, which is not the case with us. The 
minds of all are simply bent upon the restoration of commerce and trade, 
and they rely partly on the enlisted soldiers, t partly on foreign troops, for 
the completion of their deliverance, and the establishment of their inde- 
pendence. On the Lower Rhine, they have a very droll caricature, in 
which Dutchmen are represented as sitting, with their tea-cups and pipes, 
in a carriage, drawn by Prussians, Russians, and English, with the words, 
" Zoo gaat het wel." J Unfortunately it is but too correct. Thus, too, 

* The successive defeats of Blucher's and the Grand Allied army at Cham 
paubont, Montmiral, Vauchamps, Nangis, and Montereau. 

t The term "enlisted" {geworben) has a significance in German which it has 
not in English, owing to the circumstance, that in Germany all are obliged to 
serve in the army as they are drawn, no substitutes being permitted, so that the 
average character of the troops is equal to the average character of the nation : 
soldiers who enter the army simply for the pay, like so many day-laborers, are 
looked down upon in Germany, where the term geworben always implies a 
touch of contempt. 

t So goes it well. 



276 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

it is really saddening to see their perfect indifference about the constitution, 
which is to be settled by an Assembly of Notables, who meet a fortnight 
hence. There is not even the least curiosity as to the tenor of the funda- 
mental laws, which are not known by the public as yet, and therefore 1 
am completely ignorant of the spirit in which they are conceived. If they 
confer a tolerable amount of freedom, it will be a liberal present on the 
part of the sovereign, to which he has not been in the least compelled by 
the public voice. 

CLXXV. 

Amsterdam, 9th April, 1814. 

May we meet you all again with joy ! The when of this wished- 

for time we are, indeed, far from being able to fix. It is possible, that I 
may be able to leave, as soon as the war is ended, at least within a short 
time after ; on the other hand, we may have to stay here for a considerable 
period longer ; it is, indeed, possible, too, that my destination may be 
changed. But, in fact, when will the war be quite at an end ? The con- 
quest of Paris is a very great achievement ; the proclamation of Louis 
XVIII. is also full of significance ; and it is possible that a large part of 
France, where no restraining military force is present, may soon declare 
for the termination of the revolution by a return to the old dynasty. The 
reasons are nearly equal for and against the probability of submission on 
the part of the troops, and especially of the generals. If the snowball be- 
gin to roll any where, it may quickly become an avalanche. But probably 
this is impossible till there has been a victory over Bonaparte, and his 
army is scattered. Whether he has only from forty to fifty thousand men, 
or more, is not of much consequence : it is certain that he can not possibly 
be strong enough to attack the allied armies with success. But will he do 
it, notwithstanding, in desperation ? Or will he make forced marches to 
his armies in the south, unite them, and attempt to revenge himself on 
the provinces which have really declared against him with enthusiasm? 
In former times, when his military eye was so piercing, that one could 
never doubt of his taking, on the whole, the right course, I should not hes- 
itate in assuming that he would adopt the latter decision. I still expect 
that he will do so, because the alternative of choice, which has led him 
into the greatest faults ever since the Russian campaign, both on the Elbe 
and now on the Marne, is really no longer open to him. His march from 
Arcis to St. Dizier, on the 2 2d of last month, is a mistake only compara- 
ble to that of General Mack. The oscillating movements to which he was 
compelled, the necessity of regulating his proceedings by those of the en- 
emy, had evidently paralyzed all the powers of his mind, so that he com- 
mitted the most obvious blunders. Now he has no longer a choice, and if 
he attempt to advance toward Paris, it will be plain that God has again 
smitten him with blindness. But if any stand by him to the last, there 
will be a fearful combat to sustain with the infuriated tiger, when nothing 

but death is before his eyes 

Is the restoration of the Bourbons desirable ? As the only possible 
means of terminating that political system of France, which has desolated 
the whole of Europe, I think it is. Some sort of constitution must, at any 
rate, be established. And besides, where a party shows such energy as 
Was displayed at Bordeaux, for instance, and formerly in La Vendee, i$ 



SECOND VISIT TO HOLLAND. 277 

becomes the party of freedom. Forms are nothing; the spirit is every- 
thing 

CLXXVI. 

Amsterdam, 19th April, 1814. 

After this account of what more immediately concerns ourselves, 

I can speak to you of nothing but the extraordinary crisis, whose speedy 
termination has certainly taken every one by surprise. No one could have 
expected that Bonaparte would have displayed such pusillanimity; that 
he would have been as abject in adversity, as he was arrogant so long as 
there remained a gleam of prosperity. As little could any one have antici- 
pated, that the soldiers would follow the example of defection, set them by 
an Assembly, which they had always regarded with contempt. Whether it 
was desirable that things should be brought so very rapidly to a crisis, or 
whether a slower and more thorough process of fermentation would not 
have been more wholesome, experience will most likely teach us in a short 
time. Many impure elements might have been eliminated, if the decision 
had taken place in the southern departments. As it is, all the persons who 
were connected with the administration under Bonaparte, remain in office, 
and we must not, because he has fallen, impute to him alone all the count- 
less crimes of the past government. Bourrienne is high in office; so is 
Beugnot. That Talleyrand should stand at the head of affairs, no one can 
blame ; for extraordinary talents, and an understanding which throws all 
the rest of his fellow-countrymen into the shade, give him a claim to this 
rank. The new constitution is a very sensible production ; though the care 
which the Senators have taken for themselves, is about the greatest piece of 
effrontery I have ever seen. It will probably afford the French all the 
freedom of which they are capable at present ; and, therefore, I only pass 
censure with hesitation, even where some essential things seem to have been 
omitted. All depends now upon whether it is carried out in earnest. If 
so, we may congratulate Europe on the establishment of civil liberty on a 
practicable and durable basis, in the centre of the Continent, midway be- 
tween the senseless anarchy of the Spanish constitution, and the absolute 
monarchy, which has been introduced here in Holland, under forms which, 
at first sight, convey the impression that constitutional freedom really exists. 

I am not quite easy, however, about the conditions of the peace ; not quite 
satisfied that France will be every where reduced to the boundaries of 1789, 
boundaries which I should rejoice to see further narrowed by the restoration 
of Alsace and Lorraine. It has been suggested, that more may be done 
than to guarantee the old boundaries, and this is always ringing in my ears ; 
then other questions come up about the distribution of the conquered coun- 
tries ; for ourselves, I desire above all things a compact empire in North 
Germany, as far as it is practicable. I saw last summer, what a world- 
wide difference there is between Silesia and Bohemia ; a difference which 
certainly did not exist to such an extent, before the former became Prussian 
territory. And the inhabitants of Westphalia and the Lower Rhine are 
much more similar to ourselves than those of Silesia. A remarkable age is 
still before us ; the world will not sink back into its old insipidity and slug- 
gishness again for the rest of our lifetime, and the foundation may be laid 
for better times. 

It would be a severe sacrifice to me, to remain long here — long away 



278 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

from Berlin. We are not at all pleased with the state of feeling here 
There was a short fit of noble enthusiasm in the middle of November ; some 
individuals displayed a fine spirit ; but when the few days of excitement 
were over, the attention of all was absorbed in the enjoyment of the advant- 
ages gained. The call of honor found deaf ears, or, rather, it appeared to 
them a folly. They are now pursuing their wonted avocations, and exhibit 
the same besotted avarice, and love of ostentation as ever ; but in times of 
universal servitude it was less repulsive. 

CLXXVII. 

30tk April, 1814. 

A young officer, a special favorite of mine, sent me a noble letter 

after the battle of Laons. Whether he, or any other of my friends in the 
army, have survived the late bloody engagements, I am utterly ignorant. 
He is one of nine sons of an old superannuated general ; five of them have 
been officers already, two are still boys, and also destined for the army. Of 
the seven elder sons, one fell so early as 1807, at Colberg; a second last 
autumn at Culm ; the third, who had been wounded before in Courland, died 
of his wounds at Dresden ; the fourth, my young friend, received a shot in 
the temples at Liitzen, which has much impaired his sight and hearing on 
that side ; the fifth had his arm shot off at Leipsic. Only one was still 
unwounded, when the seventh joined the army, last new-year's day. My 
favorite was already in the army in 1807 : he left it after the peace, leamt 
Latin, went to college, became an able jurist, and was afterward companion 
to a rich young man, for our nobility have ceased to think such a career de- 
grading. Our young noblemen study as hard as others at the gymnasia 
and universities, particularly since 1807. May God preserve to us all the 
good we have gained from our misfortunes ! When the war broke out, he 
became an officer again, and is an excellent one. He tells me that, owing 
to the great privations our troops had to suffer, their hatred of the French at 
last prevailed over the humanity which the officers preached to them, and 
which they had long practiced. They were exasperated by the cruelty of 
the French, who attacked single individuals, murdered the wounded, &c. 
Our troops had long known that the French would give no provisions even 
when they could, and had long suffered in patience ; but when the Russians 
pillaged, the hidden stores came to light, which had served the French army 
in their eternal marches and countermarches, while our people were put off 
with words, and went hungry. Thus they began to help themselves, and 
from taking, came to plundering, of which, up to that time there had not 
been a single instance among our men, during the whole war. He tells me, 
he could not sleep for grief. Even then, there was still a world-wide dif- 
ference between the Prussians and the rest of the allied troops ; for it must 
be confessed, that France has suffered a terrible retribution. After the 
victory of Laons. the field preachers took for their text, " What will it profit 
a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" and ex- 
horted the men to return to the patience and honesty they had shown till 
lately. The brave fellows wept bitterly, and promised with a loud voice to 
do so. On this, General York stepped forward, reminded them of the 
sacredness of their vow ; said he well knew what sufferings and privations 
they had to bear, but he too, was not on a bed of roses ; he had to lie awake 
with care while they slept 5 he had always loved them as children, they had 



SECOND VISIT TO HOLLAND. 279 

been such good children ; but for some time past they had given him much 
sorrow. In this battle they had proved themselves again as brave as ever ; 
they ought to be as good as they were brave. After this he ordered one man 
to step forward from each company, spoke to them singly, and took their 
hand upon it, that they would suffer any thing rather than be guilty of any 
excesses. The narrative of my young friend is as touching, as these anec- 
dotes are beautiful, and certainly unparalleled since the days of Gustavus 
Adolphus. I have given Stolberg's son, who has been sent to our army, a 
letter of recommendation to this officer. If the present spirit lasts, every 
father would do well to send his son to the army in case of a new war. . . . 
I can not persuade myself, that they have reached the goal in France, 
and that the Bourbons will now sit quietly on the throne, which is what 
people call governing. If they are to fulfill their promises, and the hopes 
which the agriculturists and citizens entertain of repairing their losses, they 
must lower their receipts to a third of those which Bonaparte extorted, 
during the latter years of his reign, from a population, half as large again 
as that of old France, and then they will not be able to satisfy the demands 
of all those who have been paid, not only out of these collective revenues, 
but at the cost of half Europe. The interests of Bonaparte and of the 
soldiers were essentially the same ; only that for the latter, the extremely 
unpleasant chance of being shot dead, or maimed for life, was superadded. 
But this could not be helped ; and even if his soldiers murmured, they knew 
very well that it could not be otherwise without renouncing all that they 
liked best — reveling at other people's expense, extortion, stealing, and grow- 
ing rich, tyranny, ostentation, and idleness. If, therefore, you have any 
wish that France should receive a little more chastisement, and that the 
Bourbons should not be immoderately favored by undeserved and unexpected 
good fortune, there is a very tolerable prospect of the fulfillment of your 
desires. 

CLXXVIII. 

Amsterdam, nth May, 1814. 

Milly fancied herself almost well again when she began to write, 

but unhappily the cold wintry weather has disagreed with her, and a walk 

that she took has brought on a relapse She sees absolutely no one 

here, beyond those who come to me on business, and the number of such 
is not large ; neither am I much tempted to extend the circle of my ac- 
quaintance. I am not at all comfortable here at present ; the people have 
too little sympathy with us Germans in what lies nearest to our hearts, 
and the manner in which this nation has stood the hour of trial necessa- 
rily influences our feelings toward them. You can have no idea of the 
universal want of energy. Long subjection has stimulated selfishness to 
the utmost extent. With many, their chief fear is lest England should 
insist upon the abolition of the slave-trade by all other states ; she herself 
having discontinued it for the last seven years. "You see," said a planter 
to me, "it is the same with our negroes in Guiana, as it is with sugar- 
boilers, glass-workers, &c. — they never grow old at their work. They can 
not stand it long. And, besides, we only keep two women to five men. 
My God ! at this rate, all the most beautiful countries, where so many 
hogsheads of sugar might be produced, would be left a desert ; and even 
the old plantations would go to ruin ! And if Spain can no longer import 



280 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

negroes, what will become of the mines, which can only be worked by 
them ? Is the gold to stay in the earth ?" 

CLXXIX. 

Amsterdam, 28th May, 1814. 

The French writers are no longer brilliant, but as superficial as 

ever. Formerly, they were sometimes profound through their very inge- 
nuity ; now, their ignorance and shallowness stand unvailed before the 
reader. It is very remarkable, too, that a few of these writings, in speak- 
ing of the French Revolution, exhibit an ignorance and forgetfulness, equal 
to that which we are accustomed to see in French historians, when treat- 
ing of distant countries or ages. I am not alluding here to points with 
respect to which we can conceive an intentional falsification. This proves 
how completely every one has banished the past from his memory, instead 
of making it the subject of reflection. It has passed over them like a fear- 
ful storm, of which we only retain a general impression, because it is too 
painful to realize it afresh. Literature is quite extinct here. If we com- 
pare the intellectual condition of North Germany with that of other coun- 
tries, not merely with that of the French at present, we must feel strongly 
how right Arndt is, in saying that we are a different and a better people. 
Our literature, too, may be somewhat in danger at the present time. If 
we do not look about us now, and collect our thoughts before we write 
much, it may decline among us also. Our peculiar heritage, learning, had 
been languishing for some time, and has now received a heavy blow. .... 

CLXXX. 

Brussels, 20th June, 1814.* 

The public works which Bonaparte has carried out are certainly 

astonishing ; they prove what can be accomplished by the despotism of 
one restless man who spares no means to effect his end. His principal 
works in Holland are the impregnable fortifications on the Helder, which 
were finished in a year and a half; but it must be remembered that not 
only were the peasantry for many miles round obliged to send their beasts 
for statute labor, but that the Spanish prisoners also worked at them by 
thousands. A great part of the stones used in the construction of the 
causeway to Utrecht, have been taken from houses which were given up 
by their possessors, because they could no longer pay the land-tax, and for 
which the State could not find purchasers at any price. Amsterdam is 
externally the least changed of the Dutch cities. The houses on the great 
canals are kept as beautifully as they were formerly : except in the very 
remote quarters, you see nothing of the decay and desolation which you 
would expect after a bankruptcy. The appearance of Haarlem is fright- 
ful ; it is said that three hundred houses have been destroyed there. The 
country houses have suffered the most, however. The causeway has been 
carried in a straight line wherever it was possible, and therefore mostly 
through bare fields : while the old high road wound along the banks of the 
Vecht among the smiling country-seats and park -like gardens. The most 
beautiful piece of this charming road has, however, been preserved ; it is 

* The former part of this letter contains an account of Madame Niebuhr's 
state of health, which seems by this time to have exhibited signs of consump- 
tion ; and of the beginning of a little excursion which they made into Brabant. 



SECOND VISIT TO HOLLAND. 281 

about two miles from Utrecht, where the road runs between two parks, 
whose great forest-trees look almost like a wood, through which yon catch 
glimpses of pretty dwellings. Utrecht, which was still a place of some 
trade when we were here before, because King Louis held his court there, 
is now evidently sunk into much deeper poverty ; its streets swarm with 
beggars. We staid there a night. The road from thence to Gorcum, 
close to which little town you cross the Rhine, lies through a very fine 
alluvial plain ; you see many of those little manors, which are as numer- 
ous in the province of Utrecht as they are rare in that of Holland. But 
the dwellings of the peasants exhibit few signs of prosperity. I approached 
Gorcum with curiosity, because our expectations had been strongly ex- 
cited last January and February by the capture of this place. For a con- 
siderable distance, the ruins of peasants' cottages, and the buildings of the 
suburbs, gave evidence of the siege. But the fortress itself by no means 
corresponded to the expectations which its importance had raised. Here, 
too, we had a proof that Bonaparte scarcely ever thought of preserving im- 
portant works already in existence, but only of creating something new. 
Nothing can be more ruinous than the walls ; a double row of palisades 
had been erected as a defense against an assault; there were no outworks, 
nothing that could stand a regular siege. Every thing seems to depend 
upon the inundations, which, however, are no protection in winter against 
a bold enemy, and thus the unaccountable surrender is explained. The 
city has long been one of the poorest in Holland ; if the times had been 
good, it could hardly have recovered from the floods of 1809; and no 
repairs seem to have been made yet, since the bombardment last winter. 
Many of the windows are quite boarded up ; broken panes are left un- 
mended ; we took our dinner in a room that was in this condition. Our 
companions at the table-d'hote were a merchant from Elberfeldt, and a 
party of Dutch officers, some of whom had served under the French, and 
still bragged of their campaigns and their quarters in Germany. This 
Dutch army is a most melancholy affair, destitute of moral dignity, sev- 
ered from the nation (so much so that in Amsterdam you never see officers 
in society, and to enter the service is regarded as the last resort for one 
who is good for nothing else) : without even self-respect; and yet the peo- 
ple never dream that such an army is no protection to them — that they 
must bestir themselves, and train themselves to the use of arms 

CLXXXI. 

TO PERTHES. 

Amsterdam, June, 1814. 

I have perceived here, for months past, how the French poison 

corrupts a nation ; what a miserable figure it cuts when its fetters are re- 
moved after years of slavery. In Brabant, I have seen still more vividly, 
how the union with France has so accustomed the people to a yoke which 
tbey hated, that they now long to be under it again — can no longer exist 
otherwise : and I hear it is the same in the Catholic countries on the Rhine. 
Truly these times have proved the worth of our Protestantism. I can not 
write more to you to-day. God give you his blessing, and preserve yotu* 
noble powers ! 

With old and faithful love, your N. 



282 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

CLXXXII. 

Berlin, October 1814. 

If I understand you rightly, I think you are laboring under a miscon- 
ception as to the Congratulatory Address and its subject.* As no one among 
the general public could have declared on oath who is its author, so none 
but He who reads all hearts can tell what the religion of this writer may be, 
and whether you, or any one else is entitled to envy him his religion or not. 
At least those Independents of the seventeenth century, wrote just in the 
same manner about introducing the precepts of men into the worship of God 
— nay they wrote, spoke, and acted under the influence of the most fanat- 
ical hatred ; and for my own part I would quite as soon wish for the relig- 
ion of Milton, or even of Vane, as for that of Jansenius. If you believe that 
we should gain any thing by adopting the Catholic form of worship, we will 
not contest the point ; though I thought we had agreed, in conversation, 
that a more efficacious form of worship could never be called into existence, 
until the church herself had sprung up afresh from the ashes, and had ac- 
quired numbers and consistency by her own internal development. To me 
and others, this writer appears to aim at the same point. Were he known, 
I should like to put him to the question, whether he is speaking of a church 
founded on faith and conviction, or whether by a church he only means an 
ecclesiastical State ; but as this is impossible I can say nothing, and must 
believe the best 

It is not the Pope, but the imposition of a creed, which the true lover 
of freedom fears ; for no one individual can undertake to hold the same 
creed unchanged throughout his life, and no two can believe exactly alike, 
unless they choke themselves with words. And where do we now see the 
stirrings of aspiration and faith ? In Protestant or Catholic Germany? . . . 

CLXXXIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 1st November, 1814. 

We arrived here at twelve last night. We called on Nicolovius 

and the Goschens as early as we could this morning, and I went to Ancil- 
lon to learn what was meant by the announcement that I was to give les- 
sons to the Crown Prince. I found that these lessons could only occupy 
two hours a week, as mathematics, military science, &c, would fill up the 
remainder of his mornings. I am required to teach finance ; but I have 
reserved to myself the liberty to connect other subjects with that. Savigny 
is also to give lessons to the prince for two hours a week ; — a general sur- 
vey of jurisprudence 

The aspect of Berlin is quite changed since last winter. The great ma- 
jority of those you see in the streets and squares are men ; you meet sol- 
diers in all directions, and it is quite curious to see the multitude of orders 
and decorations. All who took part in the war wear medals ; and many 
are now going about with military decorations, whose dress shows that thev 
have returned to the miserable life of a day-laborer. 

* There were some at this time, who wished to introduce into the German 
Protestant Church, a liturgy more similar to that of the Church of England. 
Perthes was in favor of it; Niebuhr thought it unadvisable, if not springing 
spontaneously from the hearts of the people. 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1814. 283 

It seems no longer doubtful, that the unhappy consequences of neglect- 
ing the favorable opportunity which presented itself in April, will make 
themselves felt in our relations with France. It is not known whether 
Talleyrand has really left ; but the communications with him have cer- 
tainly been broken off. As a warlike spirit is universal in France, I can 
not conceive how it is, that while all allow that a new war with France 
is inevitable sooner or later, scarcely any one sees that it is just as likely 
to break out now as ?t any other time. People fancy that the French have 
laid down their arms, and that is quite a mistake 

CLXXXIV. 

Berlin, 11th December 1814. 

The mysterious course of public affairs still seems to threaten 

danger. Nothing more is really known since my last letter. That scarcely 
anybody feels anxiety, proves nothing at all. It is certain that France is 
arming, and is raising a large force ; and the grounds on which people 
conclude that the Bourbons would not venture upon a war, are only valid, 
in case we may assume that they will not allow themselves to be forced 
into it. The Duke de Berri is quite on the side of the army, and I believe 
that he leads his father; for in this way, Dupont's dismissal, and Soult's 
appointment may be accounted for. I do not like our position ; still, when 
one sees in what good spirits our protectors and heroes are, one is ashamed 
to be gloomy. The army is my constant consolation and delight — all the 
members of it whom I meet, are ready to open their hearts to me. In 
other respects, the aspect of Europe is not encouraging. In England, the 
want of genius becomes daily more visible. I have had an idea of trying 
to work upon public opinion there, in favor of my beloved Prussia (in nine- 
teen-twentieths of the people it is with us already) ; but it is a delicate 
thing to do, when one is so imperfectly acquainted with the relations of 
the two cabinets. My vexation on this subject is not my only uneasineas 
with regard to England. Now and then, indeed, a bright gleam appears; 
as, for instance, the intended introduction of the trial by jury into Scot- 
land, to the same extent that it exists in England, from which we may 
hope that in all repects, Scotland will gradually be brought to the enjoy- 
ment of the same freedom as England, which she is far from possessing 
as yet. 

I have already, several times, wanted to sit down and tell you, how 
much pleasure I receive from my lessons to the Crown Prince ; but inter- 
ruptions, or work have prevented my doing so. I rejoice when the day 
comes to go to him. He is attentive, inquiring, full of interest — all the 
noble gifts with which nature has so richly endowed him, unfold themselves 
to me in the course of these lessons. We often wander from our reading 
into conversation, but not into idle talk, and it is no waste of time. His 
gayety of disposition does not render him less earnest ; and his feelings are 
as deep, as his fancy is playful. He seeks instruction and counsel from 
others, without surrendering himself to the authority of any. I have never 
seen a youth with a finer nature. He knows, too, how much I am attached 
to him ; that I see in his looks ; and the cause of my affection, that it is 
not his external position which attracts me. It is one of his dearest cas- 
tles in the air (how it is to b« accomplished he does not know), to be the 



284 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ruler of Greece, in order to wander among the ruins, dream, and excavate. 
When I hear him it revives my old castles in the air. " If we should he 
at Athens some day," I said to him, "make me your professor of Greek 
history, your keeper of the monuments, and director of the excavations!" 
"No, not keeper; you shall not have that title; I mean to make the ex- 
cavations myself, but you shall be present." 

In my next, I will give you some answer to the problems which Hume 
has not solved for you. I willingly recognize Hume's great qualities, and 
his deeided superiority to Gibbon ; but, in the earlier times, he overlooks 
many more things of the kind you have noticed ; and in later periods, he 
does not enter into the mental wants of the men whom he accounts fools 
and rebels. But this is equally the case with Gibbon. 

CLXXXV. 

Berlin, 30th December, 1814. 

Our anxiety as to the state of feeling in the countries between 

the Rhine and the Maas, seem to be groundless. The manufacturers there 
have found a compensation for the loss of the French market — the source 
of their prosperity since the re-union — more quickly than could have been ex- 
pected ; the free trade by sea opens Italy to them, and they have more orders 
than they can execute. They are not likely, therefore, to want for worldly 
prosperity ; but these districts, parts of which are, moreover, pure Walloon, 
need a spiritual regeneration. God grant that if these become ours, we 
may do as much for the souls of their inhabitants, as King Frederick did 
for the material welfare of Silesia ! In Saxony, too, we should undoubtedly 
make very rapid progress in winning the hearts of the people, if we came 
forward to them with thorough cordiality. Oh, how I should like to receive 
some commission, by which I might leave a good work of this kind, and a 

memory behind me ! All Italy is in a ferment, and Murat, no doubt, 

is on the watch for an outbreak. He would be a sad deliverer ! But, in 
one way or other, that country will certainly be formed into a single realm, 
in the course of one or a few generations. The dreams of early youth are 
strange. Something of this kind took supreme possession of my mind in 
the visions of my early life, and the separation of Sicily, as the first spot 
where a free constitution could take root, came before me in those dreams. 
When once the Congress is over, we shall again be able to read the future. 
Up to this time many things are still left undecided. But I firmly believe 
that Italy will yet fetch her works of art back from Paris, and that France 
will one day be dismembered 

CLXXXVI. 

Berlin, 14th January, 1815. 
My pamphlet* comes out to-day, and I am sending a packet of copies 
off to you. Now that this little work is finished I hope it will please you. 
I must observe that it was composed as for an oration before an assembly, 
and flowed straight from my heart, and hence it must be read like a speech. 
Any one who should read it to himself, or aloud, without modulating his 
voice, in a uniform tone, like a treatise that is merely concerned with ideas, 
would probably be as much puzzled with it, as the ordinary reader is with 

* " Preussen's Recht gegen den sachsischen Hof." The Right of Prussia 
tgainst the Court of Saxony. 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 235 

Greek orations (I do not mean to institute a comparison here), particularly 
those in Thucydides, before he has learnt to read with the ear. Do not 
misunderstand me. I am well aware, that I by no means belong to the 
great masters of oratory in writing; but I also know, what most of our 
authors do not in the least know and consider, that the old prose writers 
wrote as if they were speaking to an audience ; while among us, prose is 
invariably written for the eye alone, at least only for the ear in case of an 
easy narrative. This is why my style is found so strange and unusual, and 
hence punctuation is so difficult to me. for I ought to have many more signs 
in order to indicate my exact intention. In fact, with all that the writer 
composes as if he were speaking, the character of the movement, and the 
time, ought to be marked, as in music, for the ordinary reader. Among 
the many good hopes which I cherish for the future, one is, that we may 
some day attain a good prose, in which that which I at least feel, may be 
perfectly expressed. If I had found some guidance, and had not wearied 
myself with some things while neglecting others, I might have reached it 
myself. As it is, that is out of the question. I break off to take a copy 
of my tract to old Blucher. 

Not to leave your historical questions quite unanswered a second 

time, I reply to your first, that in the middle ages, England stood in the 
same relation to the manufacturing districts of the Netherlands — where 
agriculture did not begin to flourish till after the decline of their textile pro- 
ductions in the fifteenth century — which the countries on the Baltic now 
occupy toward England. It fed their great cities with its corn : and then, 
too, the export of raw wool was an extremely profitable trade. The coun- 
try also possessed ships and fisheries. At the same time, the nation was 
very frugal, and all, with the exception of persons connected with the court, 
clothed themselves in home-made stuffs ; and hence it is no wonder that 
so much gold was coined there at such an early period. 

I do not feel myself quite clear about the position of Lorenzo de Medici. 
I know the offices he filled, but that does not suffice to account for his 
power He is no favorite of mine. 

I shall soon set about the continuation of my great work, and have made 
all sorts of discoveries. Farewell. 

CLXXXVII. 

Berlin, 18^ February, 1815. 

I am very gloomy, and you will easily enter into my feelings. Ever 
since Monday, it has been known that the Congress at Vienna had come 
to an agreement respecting the partition of territory, and the day before 
yesterday, their decisions were published here, so far as they relate to 
Prussia. My feeling is one of mingled sorrow and indignation at our 
enemies. I strongly fear that we shall give up East Friesland, and other 
territory besides, to Hanover ; so that that state, which has not made 
the slightest effort against France, will be enlarged by one-half. We are 
robbed of old subjects, and shall be left in a worse position than we were 
in 1805. 

To England herself, this extension of Hanover, and her permanent im- 
plication in the affairs of the Continent through Belgium, is most disad- 
vantageous. I waver between the impulse to give vent to my dissatisfac- 
. tion, and the voice within that tells me to cease dwelling upon painful 



286 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHE. 

subjects, and to return with all my thoughts to my studies ; especially as 
my health is suffering from the constant renewal of mortification, while I 
can not really accomplish any thing, in the sphere of actions and decisions, 
by speaking or writing. France has managed every thing very cleverly 
for herself. How soon will she succeed in regaining the left bank of the 
Rhine ? If we had defied her, the cowards would soon have given way, 
and even if it had come to a war, it would indeed have been a struggle for 
life or death, but we should have conquered in the end 

CLXXXVII1. 

Berlin, March, 1815. 

You, too, will find that although the number of my acquaintance 

has much increased, there is far less of youthful life, activity, and variety 
in our social intercourse, than there was five years ago. "We live in a much 
more retired way, on account of the rise of prices, and the disbursements 
which we regard as a matter of duty, and see much less company at home ; 
and then, too, every body is grown older. This winter has every where 
destroyed cheerfulness, just as the war had already suspended people's in- 
terest in their own business. When times were at the worst, men turned 
once for all from the fruitless contemplation of the public misery, and 
thought of themselves and their own affairs ; during the struggle, these 
were forgotten, and their whole souls were occupied with the public fate — 
and with hope. The general excitement now existing must be calmed 
down, before people can be quite themselves again. 

Milly will have told you of her resolution to try magnetism. She ia 
better since its use, and free from cough in the evenings, when she used to 
be particularly troubled with it ; she sleeps better, &c. God grant that 
this may be a real progress : it had need be so, for she is terribly reduced. 
She has not had the least touch of magnetic sleep as yet 

The return of Napoleon has drawn forth the most vehement expressions 
of delight from many here ; this may surprise you, but you will be able to 
understand it on reflection. The King of Saxony and Maria Louisa knew 
of his departure from Elba, two days earlier than the allied sovereigns. 

CLXXXIX. 

BERLirr, 1st April. 

You want above all things full particulars of Milly's state. In the first 
place, I beg you, in Milly's name as well as my own, to lay aside all your 
fears as to the irritating effect of magnetism ; on the contrary, she is, in 
fact, in a much less irritable state now, than before she began to try it. 
Besides you must not confound the effects of Puisegur's magnetism with the 
wand, with those of a soothing manipulation. She almost always feels 
decidedly better than usual after the manipulation, and, imperfectly as I 
can practice it, she feels quite soothed after I have magnetized her, as well 
as I can. before going to bed, inclined to sleep, ajid as soon as she lie* 
down she falls into a quiet, unbroken slumber ; whereas before she often 
laid awake till morning.* 

If we had believed that Bonaparte would be received so completely 
without opposition, most undoubtedly, no one here would have rejoiced at 

* Here follows a farther description of her symptoms in detail, which were 
such as must be any thing but consoling to an unprejudiced person. 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 287 

his landing. What the right-minded among us hoped for, was, that we 
should seize this opportunity to save East Friealand, the loss of which I, 
even more than most others, feel to be a terrible grievance. But even this 
seems to have been left undone, and therefore his return is an unmitigated 
calamity, and no one can see what the end will be. I look forward to this 
new war with a heavy heart. However, we must keep up our spirits as 
well as we can. Our youth and our rural population go to meet the enemy 
with great alacrity. Some of the principal towns, where people have specu- 
lated largely in paper-money, are in a dreadfully depressed state. In a 
few weeks, hostilities will be in full operation ; in all probability a second 
advance on Paris will be attempted; I doubt whether the attempt will not 
be made rashly and prematurely ; meanwhile, whatever betide, to lose 
heart would be the very worst thing we could do. It is, indeed, lament- 
able that a still larger portion of our youth should be cut off, and the rest 
most likely be left to a great extent uneducated ; it seems inevitable that 
a great decline of science should take place in consequence; and moreover, 
it is not favorable to the hope of civil freedom, that the whole nation 
should be converted into practiced warriors. But we must take every period 
as it is, and seek to make of it what its peculiar characteristics allow. 

The Crown Prince has lately given me a keepsake ; it is a cut glass, 
which belonged to Frederick William I., whom I have held up to his respect, 
but whose harshness revolts him. 

Our young friend Chr. Stolberg will, of course, return to his regiment. 
He is a thoroughly good youth. 

cxc. 

Berlin, 2d May, 1815. 

So far Milly had written last Saturday. Since then, Erederica's letter, 
with its sad news, has reached us. How unexpected it was, you can 
hardly imagine ; for I scarcely doubted that the quiet life of my dear old 
father might be prolonged for years to come, so that we might look forward 
to seeing him again next year, if Milly's health permitted the journey. I 
can not help reproaching myself for this want of all foreboding of his death ; 
for I think that if I had thought of him as often as I ought, some presenti- 
ment of his approaching release must have visited me ; and on the very 
day of his death I do not remember to have once thought of him. Oh that 
I had been with him in these last days ! What would I give that it had 
been possible ! If he had been less unexacting in all the relationships of 
life, less thoroughly unselfish, less easily satisfied, he would often have felt 
hurt that, partly owing to my faults and impatience, partly to his misun- 
derstanding me in early life, I gave him so few active proofs of love and 
tenderness. That this was not a source of pain to him, that his son was 
a joy to him notwithstanding, does not excuse me. When the time is gone 
by, in which it is possible to atone for acts of neglect, they begin to press- 
heavily on the heart. And I owed it to my noble-minded father, to return 
and to reward his honest love, though in many cases it mistook the way 
to its end. If omissions of this kind can in any way be atoned for on the 
other side of the grave, it shall at least be my endeavor to atone for them 
there. 

My sister has not yet written, and Erederica gives us so few particulars, 
that we hardly know any thing about his last days. Erom his bodily 



288 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

state I fear — and should be so glad to think otherwise — that his death 
must have been attended with great pain. His soul was no doubt at peace, 
and departed without reluctance or fear. 

It is a great comfort to me that we are much alone, and have few inter- 
ruptions at present. To me, my father's death is like cutting off a part of 
my existence, little as it can influence the facts of my life at my age, and 
so separated as we were from each other. 

Oh that Milly's health were more encouraging! I would so gladly say 
any thing to cheer you about her, but I dare not tell you what is not true. 
I can not perceive that she is improving. She varies very much, and there 
are days when she feels easy and well. We make no further progress with 
magnetism. I wish so earnestly that she would take Heim's medicines, 
but she will not hear of it. That all her present illness is the result of 
that unhappy expedition up the Wertha Hills, becomes clearer and clearer 
to me. May God help us. I trust it will be practicable for you to come 
to us. 

How can I conclude this letter without thanking you once more, and 
praying for a blessing on you, for all the love that you have shown to my 
father ; for all the comfort and pleasure your society afforded him after his 
fall, and for the love and tenderness that he received from you during our 
visit. It would make you still dearer to me, if any thing could do so. 

May Heaven reward Gloyer, too, for all that he has done for one that 
was a stranger to him ! 

Farewell ! Gretchen has most likely already gone back to her friends j 
if not, give our best love to her. 



CHAPTER IX. 

NIEBUHB/S RESIDENCE IN BERLIN UP TO JULY, 1616. 

In the spring of 1815, Madame Niebuhr's state of health al 
tered for the worse, with a rapidity which revealed the full ex- 
tent of her danger. Madame Hensler, on hearing of it, hastened to 
Berlin, and shared in Niebuhr's cares and fatigues. Her sister lin- 
gered till the 21st of June, when she died in the arms of her hus- 
band. He had never spoken to her of her approaching death, much 
as he longed to receive her parting wishes, because the physician 
forbade all excitement. Once only, a few days before her death, 
as he was holding her in his arms, he asked her if there was no 
pleasure that he could give her — nothing that he could do for her 
sake ; she replied, with a look of unutterable love, " You shall 
finish your History whether I live or die." This request was 
ever present to his mind, and he regarded its fulfillment as a 
sacred duty, though years elapsed before he was able to resume 
his work. 

Madame Niebuhr's death was an unspeakable bereavement to 
her husband. Their early marriage — the perfect harmony of their 
sentiments and tastes — the perils and anxieties they had shared 
during the war — the passionate interest with which they both re- 
garded political events — even their childlessness, had bound them 
so closely together, that they had scarcely a thought or a wish 
apart from each other. It is a proof of the high character of her 
mind, that she was fully capable of appreciating her husband's 
intellect, and of entering into all the topics which interested him. 
He was in the habit of conversing with her on the subjects of 
his researches, and consulting her even on his political relations. 
Such a union can exist only once in a life-time, because a common 
history furnishes a deep ground of sympathy, such as nothing else 
can replace. Thus Niebuhr felt, throughout the remainder of his 
life, the inadequacy of any other companionship to supply the 
place of that which he had lost, tenderly as he was attached to 
his second wife. The depth of his affliction was proportioned to 
the happiness he had enjoyed ; still he recognized the duty of 
N 



290 MEMOIR, OF NIEBUHR. 

striving to endure his pain with fortitude, and devoting his life 
and powers to the service of others. 

A few weeks after his wife's death, the government proposed to 
send him as embassador to Home, in order to negotiate a Con- 
cordat with the Pope. Under other circumstances, this proposal 
would have given him the greatest gratification, as affording him 
the opportunity of carrying out his long-cherished wish of visiting 
the scenes of his History ; but now he shrank from the utter isola- 
tion from his friends which it would involve. He however ac- 
cepted it, as a matter of duty. According to the plan first pro- 
posed, he was to leave Berlin the same autumn, but his departure 
was unavoidably postponed ; first, on account of the preliminaries 
which had to be arranged before he could take his instructions 
with him, and then, because Hardenberg wished to make him a 
member of a Commission to draw up the Constitution. The ap- 
pointment of this Commission was, however, afterward given up, 
or at least indefinitely postponed. 

Madame Hensler had remained with Niebuhr for some time 
after his wife's death. He accompanied her on her return, in or- 
der to take leave of his friends before their long separation. He 
strongly wished that she should accompany him to Rome. Much 
as Madame Hensler loved him, she at first felt reluctant to part 
with her home and friends, but at length acceded, and promised 
to come to him, in the spring, with her adopted daughter, Mar- 
garet Hensler, a niece of her husband. 

Meanwhile, Niebuhr passed his solitary winter in a state of ex- 
treme depression, and his health suffered so much, that he some 
times suspected, he had caught his wife's disorder. Yet he seems 
to have accomplished an extraordinary amount of work. He, in- 
deed, found it impossible to return to his Roman History ; it re- 
vived too many painful recollections ; and while he could force 
himself to industry, he could not command the productive energy, 
which seldom exists in the absence of happiness and vigor. But 
he studied the canon law, as a preparation for his mission — pre- 
pared, in conjunction with Heindorf and Buttmann, an edition of 
the Fronto, discovered by the Abbe Mai — continued his lessons to 
the Crown Prince — wrote a preface to M. Yon Vincke's Essay on 
the Internal Administration of Great Britain — an Essay on Fron- 
to, containing a description of Marcus Antoninus and his age, and 
another on the Geography of Herodotus — drew up a memorial on 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 291 

the freedom of the press, at the request of Hardenberg — and wrote 
an answer to a pamphlet on Secret Associations, by Professor 
Schmalz, the Rector of the University. This pamphlet was en- 
titled " Correction of a Passage in Yenturini's Chronicle for the 
year 1808." It was, however, in fact, an attack on the Tugend- 
bund, in which, moreover, Schmalz attributed unworthy motives 
to the sacrifices that Prussia had made in order to throw off the 
French yoke, and tried to prove that secret societies, of a treason- 
able character, were still in existence and activity. Schleier- 
macher, Friedrich Forster, Koppe, and Krug, as well as Niebuhr, 
entered the lists against him, and the controversy was waged with 
great vehemence, till a royal edict appeared in 1816, forbidding 
the further discussion of the subject under heavy penalties. Be- 
sides these various occupations, we find Niebuhr also endeavoring 
to restore the tone of his mind, and invigorate his health by riding 
lessons, walks, and visits to his friends, but with little success. 

After the arrival of Madame Hensler and her niece in April, 
1816, his health improved, and his grief assumed more the char- 
acter of a quiet melancholy. About this time he wrote the life of 
his father — a model of biography, lively, truthful, and affectionate. 
His departure for Home, which had been fixed for April, was again 
postponed till July, because his instructions were not ready. Mean- 
while, the presence of Madame Hensler and her niece gradually 
cheered him ; the former was as closely acquainted with his in- 
ward and outward life as his Amelia had been ; Margaret Hens- 
ler soothed him with her gentle attentions, and gave him peculiar 
pleasure with her sweet singing. After some time he engaged 
himself to her, and married her before he left Berlin. 

Niebuhr's young wife was well aware that his heart still clung 
too strongly to the past, for him to be susceptible of positive hap- 
piness ; she sympathized with his feelings, and trusted that time 
would - restore him. to a brighter frame of mind. She was of a no- 
ble, affectionate disposition. She could not, indeed, though a cul- 
tivated woman, enter into her husband's deeper researches and 
political ideas, as fully as his first wife had done, but she had 
strong practical sense, and was devoted to him. Unfortunately for 
both, her constitution was almost as delicate as that of Amelia. 

Niebuhr and his wife wished that Madame Jlensler should still 
accompany them, but she felt that it was best to leave the newly- 
married pair alone ; and felt besides, that it was a somewhat haz- 



292 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ardous experiment to transplant herself in middle-life into a foreign 
country and an untried position, when no longer called to do so by 
the duties of friendship. She, therefore, firmly withstood their 
pressing entreaties to accompany them, and returned to Kiel. 

Extracts from Niebuhr's Letters from August, 1815, to July, 
1816. 

CXCI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 5tk August, 1815.* 
This date would be a sufficient token that I have reached the end of my 
journey, to you, and to our brothers and sisters, who will most likely be at 
your house, when this reaches you, expecting to hear some tidings of the 
poor friend who has left them. Indeed, I can not write much more for 
weariness, from which, owing to the heat of the weather, added to the de- 
pression produced by my loneliness, I am suffering much more now, than 
on the more fatiguing journey to Lubec with you. 

I arrived here to-day at noon, and found no letters. I feel extremely 
exhausted. This is only temporary, but shall I never cease to feel the 
void, the desolation in my home, which now crushes and deadens my 
heart? I doubt if these feelings will yield even to the most strenuous 
occupation. Time will show. I had the same sort of feelings once before, 
eighteen years ago, when I returned to Copenhagen after my engagement 
with Milly, and after I had spent so long a time with you ; I conquered 
them then, but it was a terrible struggle. However, I must do as well as 
1 can. On the journey, my eyes often filled with tears, but the constant 
onward motion did me good, though it was through a very tame country. 
Now, I sit before the objects which ought to cheer the mind by giving it 
full occupation, as a sick man, who loathes food, sits before a table which 
has been carefully spread with all that would please his palate, were he 
in health. 

God reward you for your presence when Milly died, and for staying with 
me afterward ! If you could have remained here longer, if you were here 
now, I should feel differently ; but it could not be, and perhaps it is best 
as it is. You have again left me a treasure in your remembrance. Oh, 
that I were not so thirsting for conversation, or, rather, for sympathy ; that 
I can not get used to having no creature with whom I can talk of the past ! 
Only to have a child, like little Sophy, with me that I loved, would be 
worth more to me now than the most intellectual society. But it is need- 
less to paint to you the feeling of loneliness with which I sit within these 
dreary walls. It was by the same road that I came to Prussia with Milly ; 
for the most part, the same by which we returned last autumn ; I entered 
the city by the same gate, drove along the same streets. I was so unused 
to live alone that it made me quite dependent. My inward consciousness 
refuses to believe that I am alone, even more now, than when you were 
still here, and I could have the consolation of speaking of my sorrow with 
you. When I awake from sleep, for the first moment I can not believe in 
* Written on his return from Lubec. 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 293 

my solitude. You know how, when the news of victory first came,* and 
every time fresh tidings of advance were brought us, I always used to turn 
round, as if I could still go to her bedside and tell her about it. I feel as 
if Milly or you must be near and within reach, as you always have been in 
past times, for me to tell you all that is in my thoughts. 

There is, indeed, no need to cherish and feed these feelings to render 
them lasting ; but to try to repress them would seem to me a sin, and a 
renunciation of the only means of communication by which I can reach 
Milly, and afford her the one blessing which was indispensable to her in 
life. But the difficulty will be to combine the emotion which arises from 
this, with the firmness, without which I should be more liable than ever 
to sink under my grief. 

A thousand, thousand thanks to you for all your boundless and unspeak- 
able love and faithfulness, and you must say the same to our brothers and 
sisters, for the love which they have shown me both face to face and in 
their letters. I feel sure you will write the day after to-morrow; that you 
will not wait to receive this. How could such formality be possible be- 
tween us ? I quite reckon upon receiving a letter from you on Friday — 
the first to me alone for sixteen years ; and I shall count the days till it 
comes. Beg Behrens, and Lene, and Freddy to write very often to me 
also. My sister will do it without reminding. They all know how dear 
they and their letters are to me. I want to know how traveling agrees 
with Cartheuser, and what he is going to do. 

My journey was not attended with any personal inconveniences. With 
several of the postillions I chatted very sociably ; in this way one learns 
a great deal ; and even among this class, friendliness goes further than 
large fees without it ; at least with many. The one from Ratzeburg was 
quite sorry that he could not drive me further ; he, and one of those in 
Mecklenburg, had been robbed of their hard-earned savings by the French. 
He gave the Danes a good character ; there were bad men, indeed, every 
where, but at Ratzeburg they had mostly sided with the inhabitants, and 
protected them against the French ; they were not to be complained of. 
How is that beautiful country disfigured ! Almost all the wood in the 
valley in which the city is situated, has been cut down during the war. 
I have heard much, which I can well believe, of the bitter poverty left be- 
hind, after those calamitous times have passed away ; of the heavy con- 
tributions levied on the inhabitants of Mecklenburg; of the gradual drying 
up of all sources of trade. With us, too, things are bad enough, but the peo- 
ple bear their burdens cheerfully ; in the Marches every one is in good spirits, 
and things look encouraging, at least for the agricultural population. 

I will now go out and make one or two calls. 

Farewell ! Of course I shall write again soon, and will always write 
when I want to lighten my heart. With a little use, I could sit at the 
table before the sofa, and silently converse with Milly and you ; but that 
would be a short road to insanity. 

CXCII. 

Berlin, nth August, 1815. 
The quiet melancholy which you desire for me, I seldom enjoy. I am, 
indeed, sufficiently alone, but my mind is in sad confusion. Every thing 
* The entrance of the Allies into Paris. 



294 ' MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

around me jars upon my feelings, like a false note. The mornings are 
my least desolate times, because I rise late, and go to sleep late, generally 
with some fever, so that I awake weary and stupefied. I am the freshest 
about the middle of the day. The alterations which the servants have 
made in the arrangements of the furniture during my absence, are the fol- 
lowing My only wish would be, never to leave this dwelling, for here 

I always feel as if Milly were still alive and with me, and often as if I saw 
and heard her busy about her household duties, or other things. At first, 
I only saw her as she was during her illness, sitting, or lying down, but 
now, as she used to be in former times. You are just as present to me. 
When I go out, something impels me home again, and makes me feel as I 
used to do, when Milly was uneasy if I did not come home again as soon 
as possible. 

Evening. — Schmedding has just left me. I have had some hours or 
consoling conversation with him. The Reimers are at Magdeburg, and at 
the Goschens the swarm of dear little children unavoidably disturbs con- 
versation; else neither of these families is among the number of those who 
shun all allusion to the only subject which it relieves me to speak of. You 
must not fancy that I should not enjoy conversation on scientific subjects 
even now, but this is not started, and what is said is not congenial to me. 
With Schmedding I talked a good deal about my future vocation, and not 
a little of Milly and you. You have left a strong impression on him, too, 
and he sees that your accompanying me would be the only blessing I could 
still enjoy. He himself was very much affected, and I was able to give 
way to my feelings with him. 

The constant rain, together with my great lassitude, and the distance, 
have prevented my visiting the cemetery as yet, to see how far the work- 
men have got on. For God's sake do not take it for negligence! On Sun- 
day morning, I shall go to the mason, whom it is not easy to find at any 
other time, and on Monday, to the foundry. I can not yet say, therefore, 
when I can lay the beloved corpse in its cool bed. I should like to do it on 
my birthday, and I hope to be able to manage it. 

You long to see Milly, if only for a moment ! The promises that you 
would fain give her, she has already received by words and deeds from you, 
and taken with her into eternity. I dare not cherish the wish that you 
express ; for I feel as if it might very possibly be granted to me, and would 
cost me my reason. 

I can occupy myself, thank heaven ! and if I could only stay here in 
quiet, all would be well. At least, I am reading records, and have also 
begun canon law. 

Rauch will in no case go direct to Rome. I shall, therefore, still be 
much obliged to you to write to Lund, and offer him to travel with me free 
of expense. If I do not go yet, he can stay with me as a visitor till we 
set off. 

CXCIII. 

Berlin, 8th September, 1815. 

I often busy myself with plans for profiting, to the utmost extent, by the 

advantages Rome presents : I should certainly need some assistants in 

order to do so. Perhaps it is true, as people say, that in the clearer and 

brighter atmosphere there, one can work incomparably harder than here ; 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 296 

it had need be so, if I am to get my History written, in addition to per- 
forming the duties of my office, and studying the city and its treasures. 
I must, by degrees, search through all the manuscripts of the Vatican; by 
so doing I can scarcely fail of making some discoveries. I think I have a 
trace, which will not disappoint my hope of digging up a treasure, in an 
almost unknown Greek poet. I shall also look for palimpsests among the 
parchments in the archives, as well as those in the library. But all this 
enlarges the sphere of my researches so indefinitely, that my goal seems 
quite to have receded out of sight. 

Heindorf has drawn my attention to the fragments of Heyne's 

autobiography contained in Heeren's ; I recommend you to read them also. 
It is quite another question, whether or not Heyne, who afterward tried to 
grasp much more than he could retain, and accepted, as his due, the ex- 
aggerated admiration and false fame that was offered to him, was a dis- 
tinguished philologist ; and this praise must be denied him. But the pic- 
ture of his character, of his struggles under difficulties, and of his mind, 
which is given by these biographical fragments, as well as the poems pre- 
fixed to the work, deserves all respect. 

CXCIV. 

Berlin, 15tk September, 1815. 

For some time past, I have been very unwell ; but it was, perhaps, no- 
thing more than a cold, though I had pains in my chest. At last it turn- 
ed to influenza, which obliged me to take to my bed. However, I have 
remained true to my resolution, not to yield to effeminacy again, and yes- 
terday I went out. I rejoice in this heavenly weather and lose the pain- 
ful sense of solitude ; you like a beautiful autumn better than the summer, 
and Milly liked it too. We once enjoyed a most exquisitely beautiful au- 
tumn in Copenhagen ; we took long walks in all directions, without regard 
to distance, and this afforded Milly the full enjoyment of what was to her 
the highest gratification. That was in the times when we lived as yet in 
perfect seclusion, when there were many, many days on which we had not 
a single caller, and whole periods passed away without our, or even my 
making a visit. I had a dim feeling that it was best for us both ; Miily 
was less satisfied ; and yet the storms and billows of the world have been 
too much for her strength. Heindorf' s stay with me has cheered me in 
another way. It is refreshing to feel that the pleasure of seeing one, can 
give animation and cheerfulness to a friend from whom one has long been 
separated. You know how soothing this consciousness is, and how I have, 
more than once, renewed my youth in your society. Heindorf has done 
the same among his friends here, of whom I am one of the dearest to him, 
and I do not care whether others be still dearer to him or not 

Preserve, the silence of profound meditation, complete absorption in one's 
own thoughts, are easily recognized and must be honored ; but where there 
is great talkativeness in general, and it is only when the conversation turns 
upon what is known to be the real vocation of the man, that it ceases to 
flow freely, there must be other causes than those I have mentioned ; the 
man's heart is not in his calling, he does not live in it. Or, what comes 
to the same thing, he has not worked out results, which he cherishes, and 
with which he holds converse. Now this has been accomplished by Hein- 



296 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

dorf, to a wonderful extent, with regard to grammatical rules, and all that 
belongs to the narrower sphere of philology, so that he can form positive 
decisions, for which he can always instantly assign his reasons, where 
others have only a dim feeling. That he has elaborated his philological 
system, by unwearied assiduity, in spite of constant ill-health from his 
childhood up ; that he has never allowed himself to be stopped in his pro- 
gress by sickness ; that he thinks nothing of all his knowledge and acquire- 
ments, and knows no greater happiness than the admiration and love of 
those whom he rates above himself ; that he even sets little value upon his 
peculiar department of philology compared to others 5 that friendship and 
kindness are his sole enjoyments — all this makes him one of the most lov- 
able persons among the literary men of my acquaintance. I am somewhat 
proud of his dedicating the most perfect of his writings to me, and inwardly 
rejoice that the one, with which he has connected my name, is that which, 
he says, will certainly endure, and has been written for posterity. 

To give him some pleasure during his stay with us, I invited his friends 
to meet him at a dinner in the Thiergarten the day before yesterday, and 
asked Nicolovius and Rauch, (who spoil no society) as well. It was the 
first party that I had really enjoyed for many months. One is tempted 
indeed to reproach oneself afterward, but yet it is right perhaps to change 
the current of one's thoughts. In former times too, I have reproached 
myself for it, if I enjoyed myself in a party which Milly did not share, and I 
preferred staying away on such occasions, because Milly never had, or would 
have, any pleasure for herself alone, so that she had much fewer enjoyments 
than I, and I would not suffer that. In general, too, she preferred my re- 
fusing invitations without her; but after her illness assumed a serious 
character, she altered in this respect, and wished me to go into society, 
for the sake of change of scene and amusement. However, at that time, 
it would have been unbearable to me. 

There are many things which become indispensable to us, when we are 
accustomed to them ; and if you are conscious of being able to fill more 
than one vocation, you can not repress the impulse to embrace more than 
one. Indeed, you feel that you wrong the cause, as well as yourself, if 
you renounce either of them. This is my feeling now with regard to the 
highest spheres of statesmanship. Unhappily we always learn wisdom too 
late, and I shudder when I look at the years that lie behind me, and the 
age I have already reached. But this terror is nothing to my bitter re- 
morse for faults and oversights on higher matters — the remembrance of 
which would soon overwhelm me, if I dwelt upon it, and yet, not to drive 
it from me, seems the only possible atonement for them. If there be an- 
other and a real atonement — for what destroys the energies, and makes 
life useless, can not be the right one — oh, how thankful I should be to any 
one who would announce it to me ! 

Your welcome letter has again done me much good. 

CXCY\ 

TO PERTHES. 

Berlin, September, 1815. 
I thank you for the interest you take in my mission, which is at least 
highly probable, though not absolutely and irrevocably fixed. My heart 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 297 

can scarcely be light or joyful, when I am bidding farewell to ray country, 
most probably for the whole of the short portion yet remaining to my life ; 
but certainly for so long a time, that if I return, it will be to live as a 
stranger in my own land, with changed feelings, and with habits that can 
not be altered at an advanced age. Especially as the work which is the 
calling of my life, the Roman History, however the reverse may seem evi- 
dent, can not by any means be so well composed there as here. Finally, 
I must renounce the tasks that the times continually set before us, and in 
the performance of which, I have a most distinct inward call to co-operate. 
Now, if the embassador to Rome were but the mediator of wise and whole- 
some measures — but he is only the instrument of what he is ordered to 
undertake ; and how little that will be in harmony with my views I can 
already perceive. For the true welfare of the Catholic church in our State, 
such a spokesman can do nothing at all — since the ecclesiastical authori- 
ties of the Papacy are obstinately bent upon keeping the Church under 
their own jurisdiction, and the deep inward degeneracy of the Catholic 
clergy is not less prejudicial to it, than the many perverse and mischievous 
views held by Protestant statesmen. 

Many form an idea of this office, which is quite at variance with the 
reality, and then congratulate me on a mission, which would indeed be 
glorious, if the attributes they assume, really belonged to it. 

As regards philology alone, unquestionably my stay there can not be 
useless. But I should have accomplished much more, could I have kept 
strictly to the unconditional furlough granted me in the first instance. 
The embassador is nailed down to Rome, and Rome does not contain the 
twentieth part of the literary and historical treasures of Italy which would 
reward the labor of bringing them to light; these are scattered over the 
whole country. But it is ordained that every thing good must be spoilt. 

CXCVI. 

TO PROFESSOR BRANDIS. 

Berlin, 26th September, 1815. 
You have applied to me, dear friend, on a matter in which you need 
counsel and assistance, and you apologize for it with a bashfulness which 
proves that in this amiable, but self-tormenting weakness, you are the same 
as of old, just as you are in all other points, but especially — and of this no 
one will ever doubt — in your sentiments toward your friends. I wish you 
could know, to your shame, not only how interesting your letter is to me, 
but how full of melancholy pleasure, for it recalls vividly to my mind that 
time when you were with us in Berlin, as companion to my sister-in-law. 
The recollection of that time is indeed a melancholy pleasure to me, which 
you, too, could not willingly forget. It was the epoch at which I reached 
the quiet and secure haven of literary leisure, after passing through the 
storms that had convulsed society ; when a period of contentment and hap- 
piness began which aroused all the inmost powers of my being, and rendered 
me capable of enterprises which I had long despaired of undertaking. Now, 
all is night around me ; I have lost all which then made me rich, and taught 
me the true value of my riches ; yet there are moments of strength, when 
the memory of the past is a source not of torture, but of consolation. I 
thank you too most sineerely for the confidence you place in me ; for when 

N* 



298 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

a man has found that all his confidence in others has been abused, and that 
there is no firm rock on which he can build, and yet is conscious that he is 
himself faithful and trustworthy, he feels deep gratitude toward those who 
do him justice and trust him. 

It is very right and reasonable that you should wish to come to Prussia. 
That State in North Germany, which gladly receives every German and re- 
gards him, when he has once entered her service, in the same light as a 
native citizen, is the true Germany; and it is comparatively of little con- 
sequence whether it may cause some inconvenience to other neighboring 
States, which persist in their isolation, in the face of God's providence and 
the general welfare, or even whether temporary and accidental defects may 
exist in its administration. They are but the moles in the face of the be- 
loved one ; I would not exchange our nation for ancient Rome itself. In 
Denmark you, as a German, can never breathe freely, can never feel that 
you have a father-land. Therefore you are right, and in the path of duty, 
to leave it, even if philology, and the other liberal branches of knowledge, 
were in a better condition there than is actually the case. I hope that the 
time will come, when the facility with which Germans make themselves at 
home in foreign countries will no longer form a trait in the national char- 
acter, and rejoice over every instance I meet with. But the sudden progress 
which science and letters have made in Germany, renders it impossible for 
the philologist to find a fitting sphere beyond its limits, and this conscious- 
ness oppresses me when I look forward to my removal to Italy. Antiquity 
in walls and stones is but the shadow of antiquity, the spirit lives in the 
ancient writings. 

I thank you most cordially fof your friendly wishes concerning my future 
fate. God will not let it become too hard to bear. He, who has long been 
the spoilt child of fortune, feels indeed bitter pain when he finds himself 
stripped of all his possessions and beggared ; but he, too, learns to endure. 

I hope that a very dear friend of mine, an excellent officer of our army, 
will join me in Rome as soon as he can obtain leave of absence, and so I 
shall not be quite alone and forsaken in the strange country, of which I have 
an indescribable dread. Besides such isolated instances of faithfulness, and 
love which truly deserve the name, we have a source of joy and strength, 
such as we never knew before, in the social and patriotic feelings that have 
prevailed in Germany since 1813, and we know it is not a delusion which 
we are cherishing in our hearts. 

CXCVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

30th September, 1815. 

The funeral has had to be put off again ; the grave was not ready. Else 
I should have snatched myself from my bed, and — perhaps God would have 
blessed me for it with a shorter illness. Thus, I have been obliged to give 
up the hope of having the whole finished in the course of this week. So I 
shall bury my beloved Amelia on Sunday, the 8th of October. It is the 
anniversary of our arrival here, and of a completely new period of our lives, 
full of joy and sorrow. 

I had written so far, when I fell into a state of insensibility, from which 
I was only recovered with difficulty, and then fell asleep. I wanted to give 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 299 

you further particulars of the requests I have to make of you. So now I am 
really seriously ill, which I promised to let you know of. 

CXCVIII. 

Berlin, 9th October, 1815. 

At last I have reached the goal, and laid the corpse of our beloved one 
in its resting-place. It was yesterday afternoon at five o'clock ; the very 
hour at which we entered Berlin nine years ago ; it was just growing dark 
then as we turned into our lodging 5 as it was now when I returned alone 
to my desolate room. 

In the morning I attended service in St. Mary's church, where a very 
good man preached, and prepared myself with a still heart for the bitter 
way. Nicolovius and Goschen, who knew of it, came in the afternoon to 
accompany me. May God reward them for it, as well as for all the love 
and sympathy they show me ! We found every thing ready, and the coffin 
was lowered. When it had been let down, I sat on the planks, and was 
able to weep bitterly, and to pray from the bottom of my heart. God knows 
that I would gladly have rested in the grave, and that I looked with sor- 
rowful longing on the empty space which, I feel assured, will never receive 
my corpse. 

In the evening I was quite alone again, and sufficiently composed to set 
about some necessary work. I felt more satisfied, as if I had laid my Milly 
in her bed. 

I will send you the occasional paper by the first opportunity;* and with 
it a catalogue of the works of art that have been recaptured and are now 
exhibiting. The Dantzic Last Judgment is a miracle of art, perhaps the 
highest specimen of its kind. 

CXCIX. 

Berlin, \Uh October, 1815. 
N.f left me an hour ago. — I have had a long conversation with him. 
First about myself; and then about my business in Rome, and what is to 
be done for the Catholic Church. — I told him, that all such measures as 
might really raise the church from her terrible state of internal decay, lay 
entirely within the sphere of the legislature and the government, so much 
so, that if they fail to do their part, no formal regulations to which the 
assent of the Romish court would be necessary, could avail any thing, but 
must remain utterly fruitless. The measures most necessary to be adopted 
at home, are to make a suitable provision for the payment of the clergy in 
the Rhine provinces, West Prussia and Posen, as in these countries the 
church lands have been confiscated ; (on the other side of the Rhine the 
salary of the parochial clergy has only amounted to 130 dollars per annum 
since the concordat ;) to raise the character of the instruction in schools of 
every grade; to establish good Catholic universities (in which, however, 
we are met by the insuperable difficulty, that in that church knowledge 
and talents are now so extremely seldom combined with piety — you can 
find the one or the other, but scarcely ever the two in union), and to choose 
eminent men for the cathedral chapters, which would secure the election 

* The preface to Von Vincke's work on " The Internal Administration of Great 
Britain." 
t No doubt, Nicolovius. 



300 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

of such for bishops, and, where the choice of the bishops falls immediately 
to the crown, to appoint only men of high character. Moreover, all decis- 
ions relating to the better regulation of the Catholic Church to which the 
assent of the Pope is necessary, ought to emanate from this place, and to 
be dispatched to the embassador in a finished state. The latter would 
never be authorized to remonstrate against them : this would be to overstep 
the duties of his position. I told him that if the proposals were reasonable 
it would require very little skill to get them accepted ; if they were un- 
reasonable it might still be possible to carry them through ; but who would 
suffer himself to be an instrument in such a work ? With respect to many 
things of which the people here fancy the attainment possible, they should 
recall H's* words : " The angel Gabriel could not bring them to pass at 
Rome. The negotiations there might be divided into two classes, such as 
could be very easily transacted, and such as could not be transacted at all." 
1 said, too, that skillful negotiation with Italians, patient preparation, silent 
observation of character in order to find out how to work upon it, were not 
my forte, and besides it was long since I had had any practice of the kind. 
If, indeed, men awoke once more to great aims, and great endeavors, if one 
could embrace all around one with affection as in 1813, then in truth my 
powers of mind might also re-awaken ; but here there was nothing great 
either to be done or sacrificed, nor yet to be obtained in a straightforward 
way by simple skill. As to resisting the encroachments of Rome, it was 
needless to preach to any one on that subject 5 every one would do that who 
had not sold his heart to the priestly party. 

Yesterday I was too sad to write to you. I tried to distract my thought 
by paying the Dohnas a visit, and I got something better than amusement 
by it. They were both very friendly and showed much feeling; and I was 
able to talk about my Milly. Believe me, it pains me more than any thing, 
that no one enters at all into conversation with me on this subject. Every 
one is silent when I speak of her. I am indeed not quite well, and still 
rather feverish ; but in a tender and calm state of feeling. For some time 
my sufferings were great ; you know in general, from my letters, my con- 
dition from time to time. As it frequently passed into painful nervous 
excitement, this will explain and excuse to you the irritability which has 
frequently appeared in them. My natural disposition is gentle — as it was 
when you first knew me ; my irritability has come on much later in life. 
I miss two things in my Milly : — the life with her, and her love. But 
this is not all ; I also miss the indescribable energy which she imparted 
to me in a far higher degree than I was aware of. The grave is now in 
order. Would to God, that it might one day receive me, when I had fallen 
peacefully asleep in the consciousness of having fulfilled my true vocation. 

cc. 

Berlin, 12th December, 1815. 
Your letter has been a great comfort to me. I feel much more satisfied, 
in the prospect of living with you. What I shall still feel the loss of, and 
enjoyed when I had my Milly with me, we will mourn over together. I 
only hope that now you will be able to come with an easy mind, 1 dread 
these last days for you, and the parting from those who have always known 

what they possessed in you. I shall be a debtor to all of them 

* Probably W. Von Humboldt, who had been embassador in Rome. 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1815. 301 

My mind will be opened to the enjoyment of the treasures of Rome, and 
the beginning of a completely new life may, perhaps, make me young 
again. I am very glad that our circle of intercourse will be small ; it 
promises me a life of close application to study. 

A very unsatisfactory tone of feeling prevails here, as is the case, per- 
haps, throughout Germany. The interest in literature is so much on the 
decline (indeed it is weaker now than during and after the fever of the 
French Revolution) , and our bright visions so fade away one after another, 
that we can not help perceiving that the noblest opportunities of attaining 
a permanently higher intellectual standing for the nation have been thrown 
away or abused ; and we have reason to fear that an age of mediocrity is 
before us. Great injury must inevitably result from so large a part of our 
youth having taken the field for a second time ; they are nearly all snatched 
away from their studies. The first war did them no harm, but that was 
conducted in a different spirit from the present one. The regiments of the 
line have given way to excesses, and what is still worse, many officers have 
acquired a taste for Paris. The noble path of life is terribly narrow. I 
have very few hearers as yet. 

As Gretchen herself has some apprehensions, do not persuade her to 
come witb us. Only I should be so glad if you could have some com- 
panion, who could be like a daughter to you. If you could but have little 
Sophy or Louisa. 

Since the weather has become so severe, I often vividly recall the time 
that I spent with Milly in Bordesholm, in the winter of 1 800 — a golden 
age for her and for me. 

Pray take Christmas presents to the dear children at Meldorf in my 
name ; and choose something pretty for our friends at Husum. 

CCI. 

Berlin, 23d December, 1815. 
On Tuesday, Hardenberg sent for me, and fixed to have an in- 
terview with me the next day ; the result of which is, that he has ap- 
pointed me one of the Royal Commissioners to take part in the delibera- 
tions on the Constitution. This will necessitate an indefinite postponement 
of our journey, for a considerable time will probably elapse before the 
delegates to the assembly are even named, much more before they arrive 
in Berlin. This may not take place, perhaps, till the end of January, and 
then we know by experience how slowly business advances in an assembly 
the members of which are totally unused to deliberations in common. So, 
though Hardenberg himself fancies that the work might be finished by the 
end of March, or at furthest in April, we can not at all reckon upon 
this being the case, and, in fact, it is impossible to fix any time for the 

termination of our labors I do not know whether I shall find any 

sympathy with my views among my fellow-members of the assembly, but 
I feel as if I should have missed an essential calling of my life, if I had 
had no share in the drawing up of the Constitution. We can not export 
that this work will result in the establishment of thoroughly mature and 
wise institutions at the present moment. It can only be a beginning and 
a germ, to be gradually developed by time and circumstances. But if this 
opportunity can be seized to carry through even a few good laws, they may 
have lasting consequences. It will be a satisfaction to you also, that I 



302 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

have received this commission ; and when I said, at first, that it was not 
quite welcome to me personally, that was only in reference to its lengthen- 
ing my separation from you 

I have got the Servian national songs, and shall translate them where 
it is possible ; they are very beautiful. This season carries my thoughts 
back to the past very much. It was a time that Milly always enjoyed so 
much. Oh, how willingly would I give my whole life for one year with 
her ! Even if it were a life most rich in pleasures and prosperity. Yet a 
life rich in activity and usefulness I should not dare to sacrifice even at 
that price, and she would not wish it. May she watch over me (as you 
will too, with her spirit), and at last receive me to herself in peace. 

ecu. 

Berlin, l&ih January, 1816. 
A stranger has brought me a collection of modern Greek songs. I send 
you a translation I have made of one of them. Perhaps it will draw tears 
from you, as it did from me. The modern Greeks believe that the soul 
does not part from the body till the form of the latter is destroyed by cor- 
ruption. A child speaks thus from its grave to its mother : 

" Beyond tbe rocky mountain peak, tbat rises high and frowning, 
Its summit wrapped in floating clouds, its steep glens dim and misty, 
There grows the herb forgetfulness, beside the still cold fountain. 
The mother-ewe eats of the herb, and then forgets her yeanling; 
My mother, pluck the soothing herb, and then forget thy darling." 
The Mother. " A thousand times I'll pluck the herb, but 1 forget thee never."* 

In another song, which begins — 

" Thou fiery -red carnation, thou purple hyacinth," 
the soul of the child, whose body is decaying, takes leave of the flowers 
which are planted on his grave, and asks them to bend down their heads 
to receive a kiss, and transmit it to his parents. Another relates how 
Charon, now the daemon of death, passes on his horse through the village, 
with the host of dead after him, the little ones hanging to the saddle ; the 
poet entreats him to stop by the cool spring, that the souls may speak one 
word to their loved ones, and the children play with the flowers ! He de- 
nies it : they would not be willing to leave it again. Many illustrate the 
praises of heroes, who are, it must be allowed, only captains of robber 
bands, but what men ! You soon become accustomed to the rhythm, and 
exclaim with delight, that it is poetry not beneath the poetry of old 
Greece ! 

CCIII. 

Berlin, 20/A January, 1816. 

Some one preached to me lately that I should do this, and that; 

take up my history, &c. I answered, happy is the man who has succeeded 
in convincing himself that the simple act of willing can enable himself and 

* " Jenseits vom steilen Felsgebirg, das hoch dort ragt und duster, 
— Die Scheitel decken Wolken ihm, und Nebel fullt die Klufte — 
Da waehst am stillen kalten Quell, Vergessenheit das Krautlein. 
Das Krautlein pfliickt das Mutterschaaf, vergisst sodann der Lammer. 
Das Krautlein pfliick', mein Miitterchen, vergiss sodann des Kleinen." 
Die Mutter. " Ich pfliick' es mir wohl tausendmal, vergesse Dein docli nim 
mer !" 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1816. 303 

others to do every thing. If so, how superfluous are all intellectual gifts ! 
We need only exert our will, and we are competent, not merely, as all the 
world has believed hitherto, to tasks requiring research and industry, but 
to produce works of genius. And this under all circumstances ! It is not 
true, therefore, that genius is unfolded by outward circumstances, as plants 
and flowers are by spring-tide and summer, and that there are times and 
cases when genius can no more exist than the violet can blow in the au- 
tumn : it is not true, that in the age of Alexander there were no great 
poets, because there could be none then. From this truth, we may soar 
upward m a straight line to the regions in which Fichte seemed to us 
weaklings to rave, and look forward to the time when the will may suffice 
to make the rocks bear fruit, and the glaciers bring forth corn. We may 
spare ourselves all sympathy with our sick and weak brother ; it is his own 
fault if he does not choose to be healthy 

CCIV. 

Berlin, 30th January, 1816. 

Since [reading my treatise last Wednesday in the Academy] I 

have been busied in preparing the Fronto for the press. Heindorf and 
Buttmann take part in the critical revision of it, but by far the largest and 
most difficult task falls to my share. The Milanese editor has put together 
the loose leaves (which are quite unconnected, only legible in parts, and 
altogether form only a small portion of the whole work), without the slight- 
est regard to their natural order, and printed them in such a manner, that 
you can not see where one fragment begins and another ends. I have 
been obliged to reduce this chaos to the fragments of which it is composed 
in the first instance, and must next bring together the parts which are 
immediately connected, or only separated by fragments which are lost. 
It is a work of great labor, but for which I have a peculiar talent, so that 
if I did not undertake it, centuries might perhaps elapse before the poor 
dismembered thing would find any one to put its limbs in their places 
again 

You ask after my cough. I really can not say when it began ; but I 
have been suffering from colds ever since the beginning of December, be- 
cause I am obliged to go out in all weathers ; to dinner, to the Crown 
Prince, to the riding-school, and when I want to escape from solitude; and 
then generally I have to walk long distances. About a fortnight ago, my 
cough was really very bad ; now it is of no consequence, only it is con- 
stantly irritated by the dust, and damp, and draught, at the riding-school, 
so that I have been sometimes afraid I must give up this pursuit. This 
would be a pity, for I have conquered the greatest difficulty ; I have lost 
my awkwardness, and am told that I have much improved in agility. I 
feel safe and bold on horseback. If I remain a part of the summer here, 
I shall attend the shooting-gallery, and p- rhaps the fencing-school. When 
my cough was at the worst, it was a welcome thought to me that perhaps 
it might be a legacy from my beloved Mill / ; the best gift she could leave 
behind with me. 

A thousand thanks for your tender and sympathizing letter. But you 
do not know, you did not see, and can not understand, how a work such 
as my History arises, and can alone arise — in love and joy only, not in 
xffiiction, anguish, and bereavement. 



304 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

CCV. 

Berlin, 10th February^ 1816. 

My author himself is a miserable hero, but the letters are ex- 
tremely attractive, especially the youthful letters of Marcus Antoninus, 
which throw much light upon his inward history. What an angel do we find 
here too ! But he likewise appears to have fallen in his later years under 
thes way of a woman, who has much more resemblance to Marie Antoinette, 
than poor Louis to Marcus Antoninus ; and this book makes it clearer, and 
more comprehensible, how it should have been possible for the rule of this 
heavenly man to promote and hasten the dissolution and corruption of the 
State. 

I have heard nothing more about the plague in Italy ; but I feel we must 
not at all conclude from this that the report of it was false 

CCVI. 

Berlin, 20th February, 1816. 

I no longer doubt that we shall go to Italy, unless the plague prove an 
obstacle, in which case I should have great scruples about it, and, if you 
went with me, feel very anxious. There are certainly other considerations 
against it, with regard to Gretchen, which press heavily on my heart. I 
have foretold the spreading of the pestilence to Italy ever since the autumn, 
as many can bear me witness ; it is not from any prophetic gift of mine, 
but on very natural grounds. It attacked Venetian Dalmatia a year ago, 
from which it had, up to that time, been excluded by quarantine regula- 
tions. It has also penetrated into Austrian Croatia, and is raging in 
Corfu. Hence we had reason to fear that it would advance from the 
Adriatic Sea over Italy. Besides, I hold to my assertion, that under cer- 
tain circumstances — when Death is hungry — it overpowers all the obsta- 
cles which in ordinary times bar its progress. That such is the case at 
present, we may conclude from the fact that it has reached Corfu and 
Croatia, where all possible precautions have been observed, and up to this 
time successfully. 

Flight might not be found quite so practicable; if a place is really 
threatened, no one is allowed to pass thence to the neighboring districts. 
But I think that the spread or cessation of the epidemic must be decided 
before we enter Lombardy, and, if God permit, we may wait in the Ve- 
netian Alps to see what turn things will take 

CCVII. 

Berlin, 27th February, 1816. 
Although here, as well as abroad, they keep to the system of leaving 
the public in the dark respecting the pestilence, things come to light from 
time to time, from which the danger seems to grow more and more decided. 
The plague does not simply slay its victims and depopulate countries ; it 
eats away the moral energies as well, and often quite destroys them ; thus, 
as I have shown in my last public lecture before the Academy, the sudden 
and complete degeneracy of the Roman world from the time of Marcus 
Antoninus onward, may be referred to the Oriental plague which then 
entered Europe for the first time ; just as, six hundred years earlier, the 
plague, which was strictly speaking a yellow fever, coincides too exactly 



RESIDENCE IN BERLIN IN 1816. 305 

with the termination of the ideal period of antiquity, not to be regarded as 
a cause of it. In such epidemics the best individuals always die, and the 
rest degenerate morally. Times of pestilence are always those in which 
the annual and the devilish in human nature assume prominence. Neither 
need we be superstitious or even pious, to regard great pestilences as some- 
thing more than a conflict of the physical with the human history of the 
earth : I fear my conviction that it indicates the victory of the negative 
and destructive of the two contending principles, would be thought terribly 
Manichaean and impious. 

CCVIII. 

Berlin, 29tk June, 1816.* 

I had so much to say to you, I do not know what I can and will say. 
I therefore intend to write very little to you to-day, and to wait for your 
letter. I may still receive it here ; and I hope that you will reckon upon 
it, as it is settled that Brandis is to come to us here.f 

My thoughts have traveled with you ; you have arrived by this time. 
We still mean to depart at the time fixed with Brandis 

Heindorf died last Sunday without being sensible of his approaching 
end. His friends will now have to look after his seven orphans. My 
position will allow me to take my share. Why was I never able to prom- 
ise it to him ? Yet he no doubt relied on his friend. J 

In the evening after you had left us, when your carriage went out of 
sight and I returned home, I felt very sad. Gretchen's spirits were quite 
overcome by the parting, and I recovered myself in trying to console her. 

God grant that you may be happy ! You need only wish for me the 
enjoyment of tolerable health ; for as it is now I can never get on. All 
will rejoice to have you back again. Rejoice with them ; but remain to 
to me what you have been. 

Give our best love to all our friends. 

CCIX. 

Berlin, 6th July, 1816. 

Your confidence that I should become more tranquil, has not quite de- 
ceived you ; I am so on the whole. Gretchen does all in her power to 
promote it. She enters thoroughly and kindly into my state of feeling. 
She keeps herself constantly employed, and has shown the greatest method 
and judgment in the arrangements and preparations for our removal and 
packing up, which she has executed with indefatigable energy. She says 
indeed, when she sees me sad, that it would depress her terribly if she did 
not hope that I should recover my spirits again in time. 

I do not despair of my mental powers. I derive much benefit from 

* This was the first letter Niebuhr wrote after his parting from Madame 
Hensler, and her return home. 

t Brandis accompanied Madame Hensler on her return to Holstein. 

$ In an earlier letter, Niebuhr -says : "One of the sons is my godchild. I 
shall provide for him." For several years after Heindorf 's death, his family re- 
ceived a considerable sum of money regularly every year, without being able to 
discover whence it came. In process of time, as their circumstances improved, 
it ceased, and it was only after many years that Niebuhr was found to be the 
author of this assistance, in addition to the other friendly offices he rendered 
them. 



306 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

simple warm baths ; they have already given a more healthy tone to my 
nerves. Gretchen has stood the fatigues of packing very well. Her chest 
is quite free from oppression, and she has little pain in her side. 

Our departure is positively fixed for the thirteenth. I shall not take my 
instructions with me ; it would take too long to wait for them as I had 
intended, and so I shall travel forward at once. Hardenberg has promised 
to send them after me. 

We shall most likely take the most direct route. The two months and 
a half from now to the end of September is so short, that we must curtail 
our stay wherever we can, in order to stop long enough at the important 
places to make some use of them. I have no answer from Goethe ; his 
wife is dead. 

You will write as often to me as you have time and ability. Pray write 
by the next post to Nuremberg, and a week later to Munich. I shall 
probably stay more than a week in Munich. 

I look forward to the journey with great pleasure — as much as I can 
now feel. Gretchen also enjoys the prospect. 

The sorting and arranging of my old papers has again excited my sad 
feelings. Many of them you will one day read, not without emotion; 
some merit to be preserved. However, I do not now think that my death 
is near. Love to our friends. I shall write you one more letter home. 
God bless you. Farewell. 

ccx. 

Berlin, 20th July, 1816. 

Your anxiously expected letter, in which and from which I hoped to 
take a blessing with me on my journey, has never arrived. Perhaps you 
have been persuaded to remain at Husum. If so, ten or twelve days will 
elapse before I find your letter at Nuremberg. 

I am so tired and exhausted that even if you were actually here I could 
scarcely say any thing rational to you. My audience with the King was 
on Wednesday, and not till then could we make definite preparations for 
the journey. The next day, my Milly's birthday, I wanted to celebrate 
here ; that is, at her grave. 

I can not describe the feelings with which I leave this place. I often 
forget my sorrows, but I can not yet be happy. The general aspect of 
political affairs also weighs heavily on my mind. 

The Crown Prince has taken a very affectionate leave of me, and shed 
tears at parting. All the other princes are likewise cordial and friendly. 

People in general express sincere regret at my leaving, and hope that 
I shall return with official advancement ; which I, whose judgment is un- 
warped, do not at all expect. 

The best piece of news I have to tell you is, that Gretchen' s health is 
much improved. 

I must conclude. God bless you richly a thousandfold. If possible I 
shall write a few lines to you daily during our journey. 



CHAPTER X. 

NIEBUHR'S MISSION IN ROME. EROM 1816 TO 1823. 

From this time forward, Niebuhr was so entirely removed from 
the friends of his earlier life, that few facts respecting his outward 
history are to be obtained excepting from his own letters. These, 
however, succeed each other in such an almost unbroken series, 
that they require but few connecting links, and therefore there is 
little occasion to regret the absence of other sources of information. 
But, while his letters give a very complete picture of his personal 
circumstances and occupations, it must always be borne in mind, 
that most of them were written under great restraint with regard 
to the expression of opinion upon outward events, on account of 
the surveillance exercised at the post-offices of the countries 
through which they passed. He often had to deny himself the 
utterance of a sentiment altogether, for fear of the total suppres- 
sion of the letter. 

NiebUhr quitted Berlin in July. His friend, Dr. Brandis (now 
Professor of Philosophy in Bomi), accompanied him as Secretary 
of Legation. He had made the choice of his secretary a condition 
of his accepting the mission, and in the first instance had offered 
the post to Professor Dahlman, who however declined it, having 
just accepted the office of Representative to the nobles and pre- 
lates of Schleswdg-Holstein. 

Niebuhr first visited Munich, where he staid a week, partly 
to look through the MSS. of the Royal Library, partly to see his 
aged friend, Jacobi. Thence he proceeded to Innspruck, and vis- 
ited the memorable scenes of the Tyrolese war. The next place 
at which he made any stay was Verona, where likewise he ex- 
plored the manuscript treasures contained in the library, and made 
his famous discovery of the Institutes of Gaius. He spent a short 
time at Venice, Bologna, and Florence, and reached Rome on the 
7th of October. 

Niebuhr had sent his books by sea to Leghorn. He soon leamt 
that the ship had been wrecked at Calais, and was for several 
months in uncertainty respecting their fate. As no books were 



308 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR, 

allowed to be taken out of the public libraries, he was for a 
considerable time deprived of the means of pursuing his studies, 
and this, joined to the ill-health which seized both him and his 
wife almost immediately on their entrance into Italy, and the, to 
him, unaccustomed privation of all intellectual intercourse, ac- 
count for the tone of depression which prevails in his earlier let- 
ters from Rome. In spite of these disadvantages, however, he 
turned his time to account, as far as possible, by visiting the li- 
brary of the Vatican, and in November discovered the fragments 
of Cicero's orations, and some of Livy, Seneca, and Hyginus ; after 
which he occupied himself assiduously with their correction and 
preparation for the press. Their publication, however, was from 
many causes delayed for several years. 

Niebuhr' s relations with the court of Home assumed a very 
satisfactory aspect from the first. A mutual liking sprang up be- 
tween him and the excellent Pope Pius YIL, and he was on terms 
of personal friendship with Cardinal Gonsalvi, the prime minister 
and secretary of state, of whose character as a statesman Niebuhr 
had a high opinion. During the earlier years of his residence in 
Rome, Niebuhr had merely to dispatch the current business with 
the Papal court, as the instructions for his special mission, which 
Hardenberg had promised to send after him in a few weeks, did 
not arrive for four years. 

His intercourse in Rome, beyond that which he enjoyed with 
Brandis and Bunsen, with the latter of whom he soon formed an 
intimate friendship, was chiefly confined to Germans and English, 
though he had likewise several acquaintances among the French. 
Among the Italians there were very few whose conversation af- 
forded him any pleasure, owing to their entirely opposite cast of 
mind, though there were a few of the higher ecclesiastics who 
formed exceptions. Niebuhr associated much with the young art- 
ists who were then studying in Rome, and laying the foundation 
of the present German school of historical painting. Among them 
he was particularly intimate with Cornelius, Platner, Overbeck, 
and the two Schadows. He made their acquaintance on the an- 
niversary of the battle of Leipsic, eight days after his arrival. The 
artists celebrated the day by a dinner, to which they invited Nie- 
buhr and Brandis. Niebuhr sat between Thorwaldsen and Cor- 
nelius, who both instantly inspired him with the strongest interest, 
and he made an equally favorable impression on them. Niebuhr 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 309 

always took a lively interest in art, particularly in paintings, and 
his judgment was considered, by those most competent to form an 
opinion, remarkably correct, though he had no practical acquaint- 
ance with any branch of art. 

Letters written in 1816. 

ccx. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Munich, 12th August, 1816. 
Gretchen has, I think, furnished you with the thread of our journey as 
far as Ratisbon. From Meiningen I sent you the history of our adventures 
and calamities on the road through the forest of Thuringia. We saw no- 
thing of that town ; it rained in torrents, and if the brother of our old 
Heim had not lived so near, I should not even have visited him. From 
him I heard that the duchy contains 54,000 inhabitants ; not much oould 
be said about its wealth ; but the people help themselves through, which 
is. perhaps, what is most to be wished for. The weather cleared up as we 
started, and the valley of the Werra, through which we were hastening, on 
an excellent high road, appeared in all its beauty. The roads, from this 
neighborhood till beyond Wurzburg, were extremely good ; they seemed to 
be made of the basalt of the hills near Wurzburg and Fulda. The little 
towns in the Wurzburg district are not pretty, though they are probably 
more prosperous than those on the Saal, as the land is very fertile and 
rich. The country is beautiful, and thickly dotted with villages of some 
size. At Wurzburg we stopped for twenty-four hours. The city is cer- 
tainly very well situated ; part of it lies on the opposite side of the river, 
at the foot of the hill, on which are the Marienburg, and a place of pil- 
grimage. This hill produces the Stein wine, and it stretches so far into the 
country that it affords to a wide district the enjoyment of its delicious pro- 
ducts, of which Brandis and I partook. The bridge is adorned, like that 
of Prague, with statues of saints, single and in groups ; altogether Wurz,- 
burg swarms with Christian statues — all bad, all mannered, and tasteless. 
The cathedral is new, and so are the paintings, which are worthless ; 
many of the buildings are large and handsome, and show that the city- 
was once the seat of a Chapter composed of a proud and rich aristocracy. 
We — which, in such cases, always means Brandis and myself — hunted 
out Professor Goldmayer — found him not at home ; he had received my 
card, however, and came to me at the hotel. I found in him not merely 
courtesy, which is shown by what I have just said, but a simple, obliging, 
straightforward, upright man, with nothing unprotestant, that is, no sti- 
fling of his genuine German nature about him. This seems to be the case 
with the rest of the Wurzburg scholars, and their political ideas appear to 
be quite satisfactory. The librarian showed me what I wished to see, the 
MSS., among which are some of very great antiquity ; one was of the kind 
for which I am looking out,* but the obliterated writing was nothing but 
an old Latin translation of the Bible, written probably in the fourth or fifth 
century. I wasted several hours, that evening and the following morning, 
in carefully looking over these works, to me quite useless. But I had 
* i.e. Palimpsests. 



310 MEMOIR OF NIEBTIHR. 

pleasure in examining the works of art which I found among them, the 
exquisitely carved ivory tablets which ornament their covers, and must 
be at least as old as the eleventh century. They really must be regarded 
as specimens of alto-relievo, of which ancient art would not need to be 
ashamed. Copies from it they may be, for some of the figures are in un- 
mistakable Roman costume. Similar carvings are to be found among the 
illuminated MSS. of the Munich library, some with Greek, others with 
Latin inscriptions, the letters of which are so accurately formed that it is 
impossible to ascribe them to Constantinople. 

Our road brought us through a district where the different territories 
were formerly curiously intermingled, for the most part belonging to Bay- 
reuth or Anspach, and I thought I could still distinctly recognize tbe dif- 
ference of religion and of their former political relations. We caught sight 
at once of the whole extent of Nuremberg, with its castles and its high 
steeples. The city is much smaller than I had expected from its ancient 
population, which, calculating from 4000 yearly births, must have amount- 
ed, in the fifteenth century, to more than 100,000 souls. It lies on hills. 
Nearly all the names of the streets have been changed since the change 
of the government. Two churches had been already pulled down because 
they wanted repairs ; one was sold, as we heard, for five hundred florins, 
for the sake of its building materials. The price of houses is unusually 
low. A house for a family of the ordinary middle class may be had for 
five hundred florins ; a very handsome one, which in Berlin would prob- 
ably cost from sixty to eighty thousand dollars, may be had here for ten 
thousand florins. Yet the city appears by no means so empty and desert- 
ed as you might anticipate from this, and trade is reviving ; orders have 
unexpectedly arrived from America. The debts of the city, amounting to 
9,500,000 florins, have been made over to the Bavarian government, with 
a reduction of one half in the rate of interest. The municipal constitution 
has been quite abrogated ; the city is governed by a royal commissioner : 
a town-council has been nominated, but it does not assemble. But the 
Bavarians have hopes, from the express words of a law promulgated last 
year, that, in the larger cities, magistrates will be again appointed, to 
whom the management of the fiscal matters of the communes, and even 
the administration of justice and the police will be restored. Magistrates 
have been already conceded to the smaller towns. In consequence of all 
these changes the Town Hall is useless and empty, or, at least, appropri- 
ated to other purposes. The old decorations and emblems have been car- 
ried away ; a screen of finely-executed brass- work, which stood in the 
council-hall, has been sold, &c. Those churches, the preservation of which 
seemed necessary for the wants of the city, have been suffered to keep 
their immense treasures of art untouched. You are not prepared to see so 
many sacred relics of antiquity in a Protestant city ; the appearance of 
the place is quite Catholic; nay, to judge by the present state of the 
Catholic Churches, it might be maintained that the works of art would 
have been far better preserved if the Reformation had become universal, 
supposing it to be carried out with as much moderation as at Nuremberg. 
St. Sebald's and St. Lawrence's have grown rich in old paintings through 
a custom which I never met with elsewhere ; on the death of a citizen of 
consideration, a painting was hung up in the church to his memory, to 
which a tablet bearing the date of his death was affixed, but which had 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 311 

no other pergonal reference to the deceased, rarely even to his patron saint. 
These pictures are shockingly neglected ; they are regarded as the property 
of the family who presented them to the church. There is one extremely 
beautiful painting in St. Lawrence's, ascribed, like every thing else in 
Nuremberg of unknown origin, to Albert Durer, but it is much older. But 
the most beautiful painting of all was actually discovered by Brandis ; it 
was painted before 1450, to judge by another picture near it, which is 
provided with a date. Brandis had climbed on to an old stone altar to 
look at another picture, also of great merit, when he suddenly became 
aware that there was one far superior, hanging on a column behind, of 
which you caught sight through an arch. To get near it we were obliged 
to send for the key of the clerestory — it was worth the trouble. It is an 
altar picture with wings ; in the background is Christ, very youthful, and 
with a crown on his head, engaged in crowning the Holy Virgin who is also 
represented in very early youth. Its beauty is hardly to be surpassed. 
Of the works of Hans Kulmbach, hitherto an unknown artist to me, I could 
give you no account, unless I had written every day. There is a gallery 
In the castle, in two halls, which contains some very respectable and very 
ancient pictures, and some masterpieces by Michael Wohlgemuth. I never 
knew what he really was till I came there. There are eight large figures 
of saints, which are splendid, all of course on a gold ground, the handling 
vigorous and delicate, the coloring brilliant. A Last Judgment of his 
leaves me scarcely a doubt that he was the painter of the Dantzic picture ; 
nothing else can explain the likeness between the portrait figures. We 
could only see the very ancient imperial chapel, said to date from the 
Emperor Conrad, through a window. An old lime-tree stands in tho 
court-yard, hollow, and scarcely to be called alive ; the saying goes that 
it was planted by St. Cunigunda, the consort of Henry II., whose memory 
is still poetically preserved by monuments, not only in Nuremberg, but 
also in Bamberg, Merseburg, and Ratisbon. From the halls of this castle 
I overlooked the country where G-ustavus Adolphus was encamped within 
his lines, in the summer of 163 2 5 Wallenstein was opposite to him; I 
could trace the circuit of the lines of the great Swedish monarch ; a large 
portion of them is still existing. The Frauenholz collection at the Town 
Hall, which is brought together for sale, contains some magnificent things. 
There I saw for the first time an important work of Martin Schoen. I 
also visited the town library with Brandis - T but there was nothing of 
value in the whole collection of MSS. ; the most interesting thing was a 
globe on which Cuba is represented as a continent, and there is a greater 
confusion in the northern part of Europe, that is, in Norway and Sweden, 
than in our maps of America a hundred years ago. Among the people 
whom I saw in Nuremberg, where the Museum renders it very easy to see 
people and hear them speak, the most attractive and important to me was 
Seebeck, Goethe's friend and fellow-laborer in optics. Hegel was not at 
home when I called, but immediately returned my visit, and staid a long 
time. To you, dear Dora, I may venture to say — and you will see no 
danger in it for me — that I have met universally with a very distinguished 
reception. This does not make me vain; it humbles me; I often say my- 
self, they might spare their trouble ; they only see my corpse and ghost. 
Twenty years ago, when older men made me feel my distance, they did 
me wrong ; I was conscious that I had something in me which merited 



312 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR 

affection and welcome. Nay even I might have felt this but a few years 
ago deeply ! We ought to have spent at least another day in Nuremberg ; 
there was yet much to see, and I was still quite unacquainted with the 
citizens, who have retained somewhat of their former remarkable charac- 
ter ; it would have been amusing, too, to have seen with our own eyes the 
relics of the Guild of the Master-singers and of the Fruit-bearing Society.* 
We left on Sunday afternoon. We slept at Neumarkt, where the Arch- 
duke Charles first defeated the French in 1796. As we did not expect to 
find the means of conveyance always ready, we had sent a circular to the 
post-masters as far as Ratisbon — a very unnecessary precaution, and here, 
it seems, a very unusual one, except with persons of high rank. In Neu- 
markt, when we drove up to the post-house (in Franconia and Bavaria it 
is usual to sleep at the post-houses), we found every thing in commotion, 
and the house full of lights ; the landlady lighted us up-stairs, offered us 
a ready-prepared supper, enumerated her wines, which, after all, turned 
out not very good 5 but the beds were arranged and decked in the best 
style. Miiller remarked, but we did not know it till after our departure, 
that on the door of the room was written in white chalk, " For their Royal 
Highnesses ;" and the landlady asked the next morning when she knocked 
at our door (we did not hear it), "Are your Royal Highnesses still asleep? 
Then every thing shall be quiet in the house." Neumarkt is not a bad- 
looking little place. The Upper Palatinate is moderately fertile. Toward 
Ratisbon, on approaching the Nab, the scenery becomes picturesque, and 
the view from the heights, where you first catch sight of Ratisbon and the 
Danube, is glorious. The whole country, on both sides of the river, is full 
of historical associations of the years since 1809, with the heights above 
Hof, whence the Austrians were obliged to set that unhappy town on fire 
with their shot in order to cover their retreat, and southward the walls 
and fields in the neighborhood. I had not expected to see Hof so com- 
pletely rebuilt ! I have already written to you about its noble bridge, 
and the incomparable view we had from our windows. The second pride 
of the old city is her cathedral, and in particular its most original, rich, 
and splendid facade. It is imperfect, and the interior is interesting only 
from its beautiful architecture. A strange tradition, which the sacristan 
told us, but which we had already heard from a working man, says, that 
a pupil of the master who built the cathedral, constructed the bridge in 
league with Satan ; hence he had finished his work the first, in despair at 
which the master threw himself from one of the pinnacles of the church. 
Ratisbon has not a very ancient appearance, which may be explained from 
the circumstance that, for the last 150 years, the embassadors were the 
chief persons in the city, and though they were not permitted to possess 
any houses in their own name, they bought and built under the name of 
some other person. The old corporation was quite Lutheran : this fact, in 
the midst of Bavaria, and where the majority of the inhabitants are Cath- 
olics, is a very curious historical phenomenon, which, I confess, ought not 
to be an enigma to me, as its solution must be to be found in history. 
The once noble library of St. Emmeran, and even the town library, have 

* This society was founded in 1617, for promoting the purity of the German 
language. At their meetings the members of the society laid aside their own 
names, and took that of some plant, or fruit. It was open to men of all ranks, 
but always had some sovereign prince at its head. It lasted 6ixty three years. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 313 

lost their MSS., which have been brought here. Had I been aware of this, 
and believed the assertion that we could reach Landshut in eight hours I 
should have remained there only one day. From Ratisbon, passing over 
the battle-field of Eckmiihl, you enter a very rich country; the roads are 
the most beautiful in the world, and they ought not to be otherwise, for in 
all Bavaria, south of the Danube, the gravel is inexhaustible, and every 
where close at hand, so that it only needs to be dug up ; it is nowhere 
necessary to break stones as in other countries. Still the country can not 
be called beautiful, except in the neighborhood of Landshut. At Freysing 
there are some beautiful meadows by the water, which seem to be kept 
with great care, but from whence to Munich it is a steppe without trees. 
We reached Landshut too early to make it a halting-place, and arrived in 
Munich the following day at noon. Traveling here is incredibly rapid. It 
was the 8th of August on which we arrived. 

I will not begin here to tell you about Munich. We go to the Jacobi's 
every day. Schelling is not here, but in the country, working at the 
" Ages of the World." 

CCX1. 
TO NICOLOVIUS. 

Munich, Ylth August, 1816. 

I have written to you twice on my journey, my dear friend ; the first 
letter from Erfurt has, no doubt, been punctually forwarded, because I 
informed the postmaster that, among other things, I had represented his 
complaints of the badness of the roads; the second, from Nuremberg, a 
mere note, has most likely also reached you, as it was intrusted to the 
care of a friend. Since both contained things requiring an answer, and you 
are as exemplarily conscientious about correspondence as I am hardened in 
sin (at least, often seem so), I almost fear that your reply has been stranded 
somewhere, which would be a bad beginning for my exile. 

We have traveled very slowly. We were obliged to go round by Gotha, 
because we knew that the route by Coburg was quite impassable, and did 
not know that there was a road through Kahla and Schleiz, which certainly 
could not be worse than the one we have chosen, with a circuit of not less^ 
than from twelve to fifteen German miles. We staid one day at Wurz- 
burg, two at Nuremberg (unhappily not longer), one-and-a-half atRatisbonv 
We arrived here ten days ago, and have been prevailed upon by Jacobi's^ 
kind entreaties to stay longer than we had intended; so we shall not start 
again till the day after to-morrow. 

I go hence southward with a heavy heart on all accounts. In all human 
probability, I shall never return along this road ; and even if cheerfulness 
be not to me a treasure irrecoverably lost, I could not look back with cheer- 
fulness from the summits of the Alps upon my poor Germany. Tranquil as: 
every thing seems here, the various rumors of warlike preparations, which 
appear in the newspapers, renew the feelings I have before experienced on 
the eve of the outbreak of storms in the political world. I sigh for peace, 
and can not think of the possibility of its disturbance without inexpressible 
repugnance ; so much so, that I grow indignant, or at least vexed, with the 
" Allgemeine Zeitung," and other circulators of these reports, innocently as 
they may have related what they have heard. If these fears accompany me 
to Italy, what will become of my enjoyment of antiquity and of the country ? 




314 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Another reason of the sadness with which I quit Munich is the parting 
with Jacobi ; we are certainly parting for the last time. It is not easy to 
describe his state to you as vividly as I could wish. His heart is still 
young ; his intellect is only occasionally such as we have known it for- 
merly. He is more inclined to narrate than to pour forth fresh thoughts, 
as he used to do ; but his judgment is still acute and unwarped when sub- 
jects are presented clearly before his mind. He himself is evidently sens- 
ible that his life is an after-summer, when the unclouded sun only shines 
warmly during the noon-tide hours, and can call no new vegetation into 
life ; and he feels this with a melancholy which is more touching to his 
younger friend than to himself. Roth is invaluable to him as a companion 
and inseparable friend; he does more than enliven Jacobi's existence, he is 
essential to it ; he deserves the warmest thanks of all Jacobi's friends for 
his faithful and indefatigable endeavors to entertain him, and make up for 
the partial loss of sight by reading aloud, &c. I find the sisters unaltered. 
But their society would not supply sufficient materials for his mental life, 
to keep him tolerably happy ; and without Roth I do not know how he could 
get on at all here, as much that is new, and rich in significance to me, and 
in which I could find sufficient materials of enjoyment, must be quite in- 
different to him. 

If there is the least truth in the common saying, you must all have had 
as great a ringing in your ears for the last few days as if we had been con- 
stantly touching the most sonorous English glasses to your health 

My stay here has done me a great deal of good. The spiritual magnet- 
ism whose power I have often experienced, but to which I thought I had 
lost all susceptibility, has exerted itself once more, and the state of soul- 
sickness from which I have so long suffered is much relieved 

I have every where met with the most friendly and courteous reception, 
and could have staid some time longer here with pleasure. I have been 
much interested by several persons whose acquaintance I have made, as 
well as by the immensely rich scientific and artistic collections. Director 
Naumayer, to whom I was introduced at Jacobi's, a man who has, per- 
haps, never crossed the frontiers of his native country, seems to me one of 
the most worthy and intelligent men I have ever seen. I have got some 
very instructive details, from intelligent Catholics residing here, about the 
convents and their church. Sailer * himself said, at Landshut, the convents 
must have gone to ruin, even if they had not been suppressed j and a very 
ingenuous young man gave us the sad history of his education in a Nov- 
bertine convent, such as makes me shudder when I recall it. The reading 
of a German book, Gellert's Fables in the " casus in terminis,'' was pun- 
ished with stripes by virtue of a law recently introduced. 

I am told that here, likewise, among the youth, there is a mysticizing, 
well-meaning, but very wrong-headed party forming. I saw the superb 
collection of casts in company with one of these young men, among the 
rest the Colossus of Monte Cavallo, which is shown here in a new building, 
with the advantage of varied artificial lights. After a long silence, my 

* He was at this time professor at the University at Landshut, but was after- 
ward made a bishop. His truly evangelical piety and tolerance toward Prot- 
estants caused him to be looked upon as half a heretic himself for many years 
His simplicity of character, and genuine child-like piety interested Niebuh 
deeply. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 31 

companion covered his eyes with his hands, and exclaimed quite seriously, 
u To me that is horrible." " Horrible ?" I asked; " I should have said 
magnificent." {: Horrible," he continued ; " I seem to see the very incarna- 
tion of the spirit of heathenism." Now, as I have no such horror of this 
kind of heathenism, I feel angry with such vagaries, which are only fit to 
stand in De Groot's Annual. Our age knows nothing but reactions and 
leaps from one extreme to another. Among such people Winkelmann is 
regarded as a fool. 

Travelers, who have lived some time at Rome, tell me I shall be able to 
hire a furnished house there without difficulty. I am very glad of this, as 
I shall thus be able to settle myself gradually, without going to too great 
an expense the first year. As this is the case, I shall give up going round 
by Leghorn, and thus gain time either for the journey or to arrive the 
sooner in Rome. 

Be so kind, dearNicolovius, as to give my best remembrances to Savigny 
and all other friends. I wish we had some little certainty of our letters 
reaching their destination. I have heard here that at least a third of the 
correspondence to Italy through the * post-offices is suppressed. 

Tell Savigny, too, that I no longer despair of continuing my History. I 
am reading Livy again on the journey, and have learnt to see many things 
in him that had escaped me previously. Why should I not also confess 
that the manner in which I have found my History read and known along 
the whole course of my journey, particularly in South Germany, has helped 
to stimulate me to resume it ? 

Gretchen sends her kind regards to you. Farewell, and maintain your 
friendship for me. Your faithful Niebuhr. 

CCXII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Meran, in t the Valley of the Adige. 
26tk August, 1816 

We left Munich on the 19th It is so cold here, that the people 

say there are not five days in the year when they do not light a fire. Un- 
fortunately we could gain no information at all as to the height of this 
district above the sea, but it certainly can not be as high as Innspruck. 
These Bavarian mountaineers agree with the Tyrolese in asserting that 
the cold has much increased within the last few years. The lake here! 
was formerly always open in winter ; for the last few years it has been 
completely frozen over every season ; in the Tyrol the glaciers are enlarg- 
ing, and the frost is gradually killing the Indian corn. The Tyrolese, how- 
ever, do not consider the change for the worse as permanent, but as peri- 
odical ; they say the glaciers grow during one seven years, and diminish 
during the next. 

From the Wallensee to Mittenwald, the last Bavarian village, the road 
constantly ascends, passing through wild and barren tracts, where the Isar 
falls noisily down from rock to rock. The only thing that attracted 
me at Mittenwald was the church-yard. Instead of the grassy hillock at 
the foot of each cross, $ there is an open black chest in the form of a coffin, 

* Austrian. t The Wallensee. 

t The cross which in Catholic countries is always placed at the head of each 
grave. 



316 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

and filled with earth. Flowers are planted in this earth, or scattered over 
it. On the boards at the side are inscriptions, for the most part in very 
bad verse, but full of feeling 

The fortress in the Scharnitz lies in ruins, just as it was left after it 
was razed by Ney in 1805. It would be an exceedingly strong pass if the 
avenues to it were watched and guarded. The heaps of rubbish formed 
by the ruins of the old walls, the tokens and the effects of the dreadful 
havoc the war has made, in the shells of the burnt-down houses, the mis- 
erable poverty, the swarms of beggars, made a most painful impression 
upon us, on our first entrance into long-expected Tyrol. We were equally 
disappointed at Seefeld, the first place where we stopped for the night. 
The devastations of the war were every where visible ; the walls, indeed, 
are indestructible. The people of these parts are ugly. The whole scene 
changes as you descend the mountain toward the valley of the Inn. Clouds 
gathered and dispersed, adorning rather than concealing the view; and 
when a ravine opened toward the valley, and I caught sight of the mount- 
ains in all their beauty, lying before us and around us, and the rich valley, 
with its magnificent stream, can you doubt that my first thought was of 
you and our Amelia? You have to drive in a zig-zag, with the hind 
wheels locked, for at least an hour, from the top of the mountain down to 
Market Zirl, the first stage in the valley of the Inn. Here, too, the rav- 
ages of war were still frightfully visible. Brandis and I had descended on 
foot, and had made some acquaintances by the time the carriage came up. 
The people were very obliging and sociable, and told us their history; the 
son, who was now on the mountains hunting, had served as an officer in the 
war of insurrection ; the old man showed us the places, one by one, where 
the enemy's soldiers had been shot down by the peasants in his house, and 
the marks of the balls ; and gave us some account of his flight to the 
Alps with his family, and how his wife died there. From Zirl, the high 
road to Innspruck runs beneath the steep and lofty rock of the Martins- 
wand, doubly celebrated, for the legend, that on its summit the Emperor 
Maximilian I. lost himself while hunting, and took refuge when exhausted 
in a cave (visible from the wood), from which an angel led him down; 
and for the story, that when the Tyrolese drove the Bavarians out of the 
country in 1703, they made a furious onslaught on their retreating foes at 
this spot, and would have slain the Elector Maximilian Emanuel, had not 
his general sacrificed his OAvn life for him by assuming the place of honor, 
and thus deceiving the unerring marksmen. This valley of the Inn is a 
most favored and lovely plain, with a level surface, and a rich and produc- 
tive soil, in the highest state of cultivation. Maize, or Indian corn, is 
every where cultivated, and considered the most profitable species of grain, 
for when the' crop is good, a yoke of land, or 6000 square feet, will yield 
a harvest worth 150 florins. 

The kindly courtesy of the Tyrolese was shown even in the behavior of 
the men who asked for and examined our passports at the frontier. I can 
assure you, that among the many Tyrolese to whom I have spoken, I have 
not found one uncivil or immoderate in his demands; and I repeat this 
declaration once more, because some who have, in other respects, done jus- 
tice to this noble people, still charge them with avarice. In more than one 
instance, where persons might certainly have thought a fee due to them, 
they have gone away without it, or taken it as a present; not one has 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 317 

either by words or looks murmured at receiving too little. Innspruck is 
pleasantly situated ; the town is not large ; it contains some six hundred 
houses, and ten thousand inhabitants. From our windows at the hotel, 
we looked out on the beautiful bridge, and the mountain range on the 
other side of the river. Hofer had occupied the same rooms when he en- 
tered the town for the first time. Hence the house contained many relics 
of him ; he had presented the hostess with a horn snuff-box ; some of his 
proclamations, accompanied by some not badly-drawn scenes from the 
great war, were framed and glazed, and hung round the room. As soon 
as we had dined, Brandis and I put ourselves under the guidance of a man 
who had served as a rifleman in the revolt from the very beginning, to 
visit and survey the hill Isel, which has been immortalized by three hard- 
fought combats in the principal epochs of the insurrection. Our guide 
was, as to station, what would be called a common man, and the influence 
of this would have made him a bad companion, if he had not belonged to 
a free people ; but his conversation and manners were such, that we heart- 
ily congratulated ourselves upon his society. It seems to help these peo- 
ple to a correct and unembarrassed sense of then relation to a traveler, 
when they hear with what profoimd veneration he speaks of the host of 
Sand,* who is the hero of their idolatry, but whose earlier life was passed 
in as humble a position as their own, and whose humility did not forsake 
him when he rose to be Regent of the whole country, for he never consid- 
ered himself as the superior of any other Tyrolese peasant. From this 
guide I learnt at every spot what had happened there. He afterward con- 
ducted me past the waterfall of Wiltau to the old castle of Amras, from 
whose turrets a wide prospect over the lovely valley and the lofty mount- 
ains rewards the not inconsiderable labor of the ascent, though all the 
curiosities and treasures which it formerly contained have been either re- 
moved or are, like the picture-gallery, closed. 

I suppose I need not tell you who Speckbacher is ? Speckbacher's sorz 
was taken prisoner in the war, and educated in a division of the cadet 
school, because the King took an interest in him ; for he is a boy of extra- 
ordinary talent, and his letters to his father are as beautiful in thought 
and refined in language, as any youth of Ins age could write. "VVe did not 
see the boy himself at Munich, but Brandis, who is indefatigable in profit- 
ing by every opportunity of seeing things, and gaming information that 
the journey affords, applied to his tutor, and obtained from him a letter 
of introduction for us to the father. Equipped with this, we set out on 
Thursday, all three in a mountain car. Speckbacher lives at Rinn, in the 
mountains above Hall ; the way thither is over almost impassable mount- 
ain roads. I send this letter off unfinished (from Trent), because the post 
is going out. 

The narrative, which is here broken off, has been supplied to 
the translator verbally by Professor Brandis. 

* Sand was the name of a little hamlet on the Brenner where Hofer was the 
innkeeper. He commonly went by the name of the Sandwirth, or host of Sand. 
Almost all the innkeepers had been officers in the war, and they were generally 
very intelligent men. Niebuhr always used to question them about the war, 
and received a great deal of valuable information from them, especially from the 
host at Pfunz, the pass between the Inn and Adige valleys, whom he found also 
well versed in the local history of the country. 



318 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Niebuhr and Brandis were obliged to leave the carriage at some distance 
from the house, so that Madame Niebuhr was not able to accompany them 
in their visit. When they knocked at the door, it was opened by a tall, 
spare, haggard-looking man, with flashing black eyes and aquiline features, 
who, in answer to their inquiries, replied that he was Speckbacher himself, 
and begged to know who his visitors were. When Niebuhr told him that 
he was the embassador from Prussia to Rome, the astonishment of the 
simple peasant was extreme, that such grand personages should have come 
out of their way to visit him, and he was about to kiss Niebuhr' s hand, but 
Niebuhr drew it back, exclaiming, " No, it is I who ought to kiss your 
hand," fell on his neck and embraced him, and they were friends directly. 
Speckbacher began to make apologies that he could give them no better 
entertainment ; his wife and daughters were out reaping, and he was alone 
in the house, and had nothing to set before his honored guests. "Never 
mind, we only want to see you; sit down and tell us about the war." He 
then related the events in which he had been engaged ; and took them out 
to show them the stable where he had been concealed by his faithful servant, 
Zoppel, for more than a month, in a hole dug in the ground and covered 
with hay. After the peace of Vienna* he fled to the mountains, and was 
for a long time concealed in a cavern among snow and ice, but at length 
the winter became too severe, and he left his hiding-place and took refuge 
in the stable of his own house, where he remained while the enemy were 
searching for him in every direction, and a considerable number of Bavarian 
soldiers were actually quartered in his house. Not even his wife knew of 
his being in the neighborhood. Zoppel could only bring him food at night, 
and sometimes not even then, when there were soldiers about. 

During the struggle, he sent his wife and children up the mountains for 
safety. His eldest child, a boy of ten years old, could not be induced to 
stay quietly there, but after several ineffectual attempts succeeded in reach- 
ing his father. When Speckbacher found that it was impossible to persuade 
the boy to go back again, he agreed to keep him with him. In the last 
battle fought before the peace of Vienna, Speckbacher was defeated, and 
escaped with difficulty ; his boy was separated from him, and taken prisoner 
by the Bavarians. When they asked him where his father was, the child 
undauntedly replied, in the Tyrolese patois, " Boer Ferkel schiesse." (Gone 
to shoot the Bavarian pigs). 

To the disgrace of the Austrian government, the only reward Speckbacher 
received for his services was the rank of a major in the militia, to which a 
small pension was attached. It was proposed to send him an order, but 
even this was prevented by the court party, who could not endure that a 
peasant should be thus distinguished. The Emperor sent him, instead, a 
large gold medal, which Speckbacher showed with great delight to Niebuhr, 
exclaiming, "See how gracious the Emperor has been to me!" Niebuhr 
had to bite his lips to repress his indignation that this should be the sole 
honor this heroic patriot had to exhibit, but Speckbacher himself was per- 
fectly contented. He had only one wish ungratified, namely, to receive a 
rosary that had been blessed by Pope Pius VII. He had written to Vienna 
to make this request, but " it was very natural," he said, " that those great 
lords should have had no time to attend to a request from an insignificant 
peasant like him, and he had never received any answer." 

* By which on the 14th of Oct., 1809, the Austrians ceded the Tyrol to Bavaria. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 319 

The first business Niebuhr transacted with the Pope was to lay Speck- 
baeher's wish before him, and, in a few days after his arrival in Rome, he 
had the pleasure of forwarding to Speckbacher a splendid rosary, as a gift 
from his Holiness. Speckbacher returned a letter of thanks to the Pope, 
together with his portrait, painted by another peasant, a most frightful thing. 

One of the interesting personages the Niebuhrs met with at Innspruck, 
was an old fruitwoman who kept a stall in the street. In the war she had 
sold all her goods, bought provisions, and followed the army, supplying the 
soldiers for nothing as long as her means held out, when, as was frequently 
the case, they were unable to pay. Madame Niebuhr was so touched by 
her tale, that she took off a gold necklace and hung it round the old woman's 
neck as a keepsake. 

In traveling along the valley of the Lower Inn, in the neighborhood of 
Landsberg, they came to a pass where the Tyrolese who were coming to 
attack Innspruck, had stopped the Bavarian troops, by means of a singular 
contrivance. The road was overhung by rugged mountains ; the Tyrolese 
had dislodged huge masses of rock, which they bound together with ropes 
so as to keep them from rolling down ; they held the ropes tightly in silence 
till the first company of Bavarians was immediately below them, when, ex- 
claiming " In the name of the Holy Trinity !" all loosed their hold, and the 
ponderous missiles rushed down on the heads of the soldiers beneath, crush- 
hag nearly a whole company, and effectually barring the road for those who 
followed, while the Tyrolese descended the hill-side with their guns, and 
shot them down from behind trees and rocks till few of them remained 

CCXIII. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Venice, Uh September, 1816. 
Except at some rare seasons of cheerfulness and mental activity, it has 
always been a peculiarity of my first letters to my friends after taking leave 
of them, that a considerable portion of space is occupied with an apologetic 
explanation of my delay in writing 5 and this firstling of my correspondence 
with you, will form no exception to the rule. However, I will restrict myself 
to informing you, that I am quite aware I owe you such an apology, and if 
you will forgive me without requiring it at my hands, it will be an act of 
generosity on your part. As, even amidst the wonders of this magnificent 
city, my mind is not bright and unclouded enough to allow me to write 
playfully, and yet I do not like to relate in a grave tone the ideas which 
occurred to me in a merry mood, I have felt as if I had no right to appear 
before you with a letter, till I had some discovery in the shape of a juridical 
" ineditum" to present you with. But I hasten, at all events, to satisfy the 
curiosity which the sight of the uncial letters on the inclosed sheets, will 
probably have excited in you the moment you opened this letter ; particu- 
larly as these inclosures are the reason for my taking advantage of the 
earliest opportunity to write to you from this place. 

The Cathedral of Verona possesses a library extremely rich in very old 
Lathi parchments. Fortunately for it, about the middle of the eighteenth 
century, a thoroughly learned prebendary — a rare phenomenon even there — 
Gian Jacopo de Dionigi by name, examined and arranged the whole of its 
contents ; and some time after, Antonio Mazzotti, a very honest and indus- 



320 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

trious librarian, made an excellent catalogue of them. This catalogue, how- 
ever, has not helped me to my discovery, concerning the subject of which, 
it does not contain a syllable. The first thing that fell into my hands, on 
opening the chest containing the manuscripts, was a very thin little volume 
of extremely ancient single and double leaves of parchment, which, accord- 
ing to the title page, were collected from among dirt and rubbish by the 
said Dionigi in 1758. Most of them are biblical fragments, from perhaps 
the sixth to the eleventh century, and a note, by the hand of their diligent 
collector, exhibits their contents. But almost instantly I espied among them 
two fragments of quite a different kind, whose nature he did not understand, 

and of which he has therefore omitted all notice.* I have only copied 

this fragment that nothing might be overlooked. But now comes the main 
piece of news I have to announce to you : namely, that there is preserved 
at Verona, as much of Ulpian as would fill a small octavo volume ; of which, 
however, I was only able to copy a single leaf by way of a specimen and 
attestation, which I herewith transmit to you for publication. 

I had already begun when at Wurzburg, to look out for palimpsests, and 
had hit upon one there almost immediately (which Ogg has described) ; but 
it only consisted of fragments from the "Itala." At Munich I looked 
through all the old Latin parchments, and could only detect among them a 
3ingle palimpsest : that, too, was merely a biblical text, under St. Jerome 
and Gennadius " De Vitis." At Verona my lucky star was again in the 
ascendant, for I found the Codex 13, containing the Epistles of St. Jerome, 
a pretty thick quarto volume of the ninth century, which is a complete 
palimpsest, except about a fifth part of the leaves, which are new. Some 
of the part written over is of a theological, but by far the greater portion 
of a juridical nature. It is written by the same hand as the fragment of 
Gaius, from which we may conclude that the cathedral chapter, or the 
church at Verona, was once in possession of several works on jurisprudence, 
which the ecclesiastics afterward used up ; and that it had these books be- 
fore Justinian's time, and under King Theodoric. My transcript is as exact 
a representation of the original as it was possible to make, without tracing 
it through transparent paper. Single words here and there, of a yellowish 
color, could be made out where the lines did not exactly coincide, from which 
the nature of the contents could be gathered, but it would be impossible to 
make any thing of it without the aid of chemistry. The best re-agents 
were not to be procured at Verona. I was obliged hastily to prepare for 
myself an infusion of gall-nuts, which, imperfect as it was, produced so much 
effect as to allow us to hope for full success with better means. 

Now, dear Savigny, here lies a treasure waiting for your hands to dig it 
up ; a bait that shall lure you over the Alps to us. Or will you give the 
necessary instructions to Cramer that he may set to work ? Or will you 
persuade some one else to come ? 

You will never suffer this discovery, which is exactly what you have 
been wishing for so ardently, to be lost for want of some one to make use 
of it. But whoever comes, let him not depend merely upon his own eyes. 
Let him bring with him the best chemical re-agents to bring out the writ- 
ing, and also a good magnifying glass. Now I think I fairly deserve your 
best wishes, that I may discover something for myself also. There is no- 
thing here in the library of St. Mark. The republic had no library before 
* Here follows a description of the fragments. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 321 

Bessarion's time, and this Greek collected no ancient Latin manuscripts ; 
the oldest is of the eleventh century. Of Justinian's works on jurispru- 
dence, Verona possesses only the Code with a new gloss. I will write you 
word of all I meet with here another time. 

And now I hand over to you the raw materials that I have collected, 
If you publish my transcripts, I only bind you to this, that you do not 
give them to the world without your notes and explanations. Make such 
extracts from this letter as may be advisable ; to which I must add, that 
the obliging way in which the prebendaries permitted the library to be 
opened for me, deserves the highest praise ; and also the patience of the 
Custos Archiprete Eucherio, who, with the greatest kindness, gave up his 
mornings and evenings to me whenever I desired it. If you put the affair 
into your Journal, let there be twenty extra copies printed, and I will let 
you know hereafter what is to be done with them. I can not tell you any 
thing about the journey to-day, for an Albanian from Scutari, whose ac- 
quaintance I have made, will be waiting for me in the Turkish coffee- 
house. A Greek is our guest to-day at dinner. Thus immeasurably, al- 
most oppressively, rich in objects of interest do I find the progress of our 
journey, but my mind is vailed in deepest night. Gretchen often causeB 
me great anxiety. She does not bear the traveling well, and can derive 
little enjoyment from it 

We had a delightful journey through the Austrian Tyrol. Your friend 
Salvotti received us very kindly. We both send our kindest regards to you 
and all our friends. I have written three times to Nicolovius. I beg you 
will address your next to me at Rome, for you must answer this letter, 
dear Savigny. Mai has made a fresh discovery, something from Dion. 
Halic. ; it is not known here yet what it is, but it is said to be from the 
History ; that would be in my way. Farewell, my dear friend, and re- 
member me. 

P.S. The fragments of Dion. Halic. have come to nothing. They are 
excerpts from some other historian, that hardly contain a single new fact. I 
will make a report upon them shortly to the Academy. Here there is nothing 
to be found except a leaf from a MS. of the Code of the eleventh century, 
with inscription and subscription. I have collated them for you. The 
variations are considerable. To-morrow we go to Padua. Yet once more 
farewell, dearest friend. Have mercy, and write ! 

CCXIV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Florence, 24th September, 1816. 
I have not even been able to write a diary for you, during my journey. 
I will now tell you a few facts of a general nature. My pre-conceivei 
opinion of the scholars and higher classes in Italy has proved perfectly cor 
rect, as I was convinced would be the case, because I possessed sufficient 
data to form an accurate idea of them. I have always allowed the exist 
ence of individual exceptions as regards erudition, but, even in these cases., 
there is not that cultivation of the whole man which we demand and deem 
indispensable. I have become acquainted with two or three literary men 
of real ability ; but, in the first place, they are old men, who have only a 
few years longer to live ; and, when they are gone, Italy will be, as they 



322 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

say themselves, in a state of barbarism ; and, in the second, they are like 
statues wrought to be placed in a frieze on the wall ; the side turned to- 
ward you is of finished beauty, the other, unhewn stone. They are much 
what our scholars may have been sixty or eighty years ago. No one feels 
himself a citizen. Not only are the people destitute of hope, they have not 
even wishes respecting the affairs of the world, except as they concern their 
several cabinets ; and all the springs of great and noble thoughts and feel- 
ings are choked up. I have met with one noble-minded and agreeable 
young man, who unites depth of feeling and profound melancholy about 
the state of the world, with a very poetical mind, and a considerable amount 
of scholarship, though not such as would come up to our standard. He is 
not, however, a native of Italy, but a Greek from Corfu. He has prom- 
ised to come to Rome, and a visit from him would be worth much to me. 

The three genuine and intellectual scholars of my acquaintance, Morelli, 
Garatoni, and Fontana, are all ecclesiastics ; they are, however, only eccle- 
siastics by profession ; for I have not found in them the slightest trace 
either of a belief in the dogmas of Catholicism, or of the pietism which 
you meet with in Germany. When an Italian has once ceased to be a slave 
of the Church, he never seems to trouble his head about such matters at all. 
Metaphysical speculations are utterly foreign to his nature, as they were to 
the old Romans. Hence the vacuity of mind which has become general 
since the suppression of freedom, except in the case of those who find a 
sphere of action in writing literary and historical memoirs. Their public 
men are immeasurably behind the Germans in knowledge and cultivation. 
Perhaps there may be more of this found, here and there, among the advo- 
cates, but the physical philosophers are the most reflective class. In Rome, 
it is solely among the clergy that I expect to find men with whom I can 
hold intercourse. 

The common people are, on the whole, better than I expected. At 
Padua and Venice you can not help feeling a real attachment for them, 
and. for the burghers ; they are earnest, honest, and intelligent, indeed 
even kind. Their soft and graceful dialect, warm and caressing, makes it 
a pleasure to talk to them. The lowest Venetian is polite and decorous. 
In this respect, as in others, there is as great a difference between the 
Italian towns as if they were inhabited by different races. The shameless 
rapacity of the innkeepers and postillions is disgusting ; and it is very un- 
pleasant to be obliged to beat down all the tradespeople, not excepting 
the booksellers. But they are rather avaricious than deceitful in their 
dealings. The day before yesterday, I went with Brandis to visit the an- 
cient Fiesole, situated on the hill about half a German mile from hence ; 
the peasants there did not differ in their manners from Germans, and did 
not even seem to expect money from us 

As I anticipated, I certainly see and inquire into much that other trav- 
elers have not seen or inquired into ; but, on this very account, I have 
seen less than most of what every one sees. About the landed interest, 
tenure of land, husbandry, the right of boundaries, I have already learned 
much that will be of great use in my researches into antiquity ; and there- 
fore, as I am only just beginning my inquiries on these subjects, I hope to 
obtain rich spoils. It also contributes greatly to a vivid conception of 
historical events, when you can survey their scene for yourself, and, if you 
can traverse it frequently in different directions, you can not but gain very 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 323 

important assistance. I am indefatigable in making inquiries of all kinds, 
and shall continue to be so. But one can not help feeling indignant with 
those who visited this land twenty or thirty years ago, for it is incredible 
how many relics of antiquity have been lost or destroyed since then. Still, 
there are a thousand traces of past ages to be found if you look for them ; 
there are very many connected with husbandry. The stone coffins at Ve- 
rona, of the middle ages, are quite Etruscan in their form. I have found 
in an old Etruscan temple wall that has been dug up at Eiesole, a similar 
style of dressing the stones to that of the exterior walls of the Florentine 
palaces of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (The peasants of Fiesole 
can distinguish perfectly between Ptoman and Etruscan masonry.) 

Be assured that I shall not forget the work to which I feel myself most 
sacredly pledged ; but, to enrich my store of materials for it, I mast often 
turn aside into by-ways and examine every path that presents itself. Be- 
sides, a residence in a foreign country involves the necessity of making 
myself thoroughly acquainted with its language and literature, and at- 
tempting to gain an accurate knowledge of its topography. Here again, 
I feel how greatly my memory has suffered, how much escapes me nowa- 
days. It used to be an amazing assistance to my memory that I repeated 
every thing I read or thought to my Milly, who received it with interest 
and life, and presented it again to me in new points of view. 

It will take some time for my constitution to adapt itself to the climate. 
I have many inconveniences to suffer ; I can not drink the wines, and am 
always catching cold. But Gretchen suffers far more. She was very well 
till we got to Erfurt, but from thence onward she has been constantly get- 
ting worse. At Munich she revived, but as we came along the valley of 
the Adige, toward tbe south she grew more and more indisposed. Her 
eyes are also very weak. She derives scarcely any pleasure from the 
journey, because she is obliged to sit so much alone (and now ill) at home ; 
but she bears this with touching gentleness and resignation. 

We hear news from Rome of the rise of prices of all kinds, especially in 
the rent of furnished apartments, occasioned by the concourse of foreigners, 
so that we shall most likely be obliged to furnish next spring. The ship 
in which our goods were embarked, has been wrecked at Calais. Under 
the best circumstances, it will be long before we receive any of our things. 

I have already seen a great deal of the works of art here. My prefer- 
ence for the old masters, up to the time of Raphael, has been decidedly 
confirmed. Giovanni Bellini, who was my favorite eight years ago, has 
become so again at Venice. And we have seen also some really wonder- 
ful productions of Francia at Bologna. Masaccio, Mantegna, Vivarini, 
and Carpaccio, can be studied only in Italy. Of Giotto's works I have 
already seen a great number, and have now got a complete idea of the 
history of art in Italy. The direction of our journey by way of Nuremberg 
and Munich has been of great advantage to me in this respect. In the 
fourteenth century Giotto leans to the antique ; his school departs from it 
again. Masaccio soars at once on high. After him art sinks again; 
and, during the first sixty years of the fifteenth century, the Germans stand 
high above the Italians. Then the other scale descends. After the time 
of Raphael and Durer, the spirit was dead on both sides of the Alps ; but 
the art survived in Italy. In architecture, the Italians of the middle ages 
are not to be compared to the Germans. In the plastic arts they excel them. 



324 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

The day after to-morrow we proceed on our journey. When we arrive 
in Rome depends on circumstances. If I should find any thing in the 
Chapter libraries of Arezzo and Perugia, I shall halt there. But, at all 
events, we shall certainly be at Rome long before the answer to this letter 
can arrive. Do not deny me this refreshment. Our love to all our rela- 
tions and friends. Farewell ! God bless you ! 

ccxv. 

Rome, 1th October, 1816. 

It was with solemn feelings that this morning, from the barren 

heights of the moory Campagna, I caught sight first of the cupola of St. 
Peter's, and then of the view of the city from the bridge, where all the 
majesty of her buildings and her history seems to lie spread out before the 
eye of the stranger ; and afterward entered by the Porta del Popolo. I 
have already wandered through a part of the city, and visited the most 
famous of the ruins. My presentiment of the emotions with which I should 
behold them has proved quite correct. Nothing about them is new to me ; 
as a child I lay so often, for hours together, before the pictures I gave you 
as a keepsake, that their images were even at that early time as distinctly 
impressed upon my mind as if I had actually seen them : then, besides, 
it repels me that all the remains are those of the imperial times, and it is 
impossible for an architectural work of art to speak to the feelings, if con- 
sidered as isolated, and without connection with other ideas. But the in- 
fluence of the completely modern part of all that here surrounds you, and 
intrudes itself upon your attention, is most disturbing ; the glaringly bad 
taste of the churches of the last two hundred and fifty years ; the utter 
want of solemnity in all that meets the eye. In Petrarch's time, all must 
have made a profound impression of grandeur and magnificence on those 
who were susceptible to it ; indeed, much that but a short time since 
spoke to the sense of poetry, has now been destroyed by the clearing out 
of the rubbish from the Forum and the Colosseum. Now, their walls and 
columns stand stripped and naked, corroded by time, despoiled of the lux- 
uriant and wild vegetation which once flourished among the ruined stones. 
The extent of Rome, too, appears small to a traveler ; still, the distance 
from the Vatican, where I hope to find my chief pleasures, must be further 
than from the last house which Milly and I occupied, to the Konigsthor at 
Berlin, which, in rain and the hot sun, is not an agreeable prospect. This 
library is closed now, and will remain so for the whole of this month, so 
that I must school myself into patience. In Florence, however, I attained 
a high degree of probability that the Greek poet — in the possibility of 
finding whom I have always believed for the last five- and-t wen ty years — 
really exists there, and has only failed to attract notice owing to the care- 
lessness of those into whose hands he has fallen. If this treasure should 
really be reserved for me I shall not have come hither in vain. 

But when one sees this favored land, to which our most fruitful 

districts are barren ; sees how, at Terni, two harvests of grain are reaped 
from the soil in one year — one of wheat in June, and the maize soon after 
it in October ; how this goes on year after year, and the wheat yields fifteen 
fold ; when one sees how there is, strictly speaking, no peasant class at all 
here ; how the very happiest places are those where the peasant only has to 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 325 

give up half the produce, and not where, as for many miles round Rome, all 
husbandry is performed by day-laborers under the enormously rich nobles : 
when you see the swarms of beggars who assure you, with looks that bear 
witness to then assertions, that they have not tasted bread to-day ; when 
you hear what numbers have died of hunger ; * it does indeed raise bitter 
feelings. It has become perfectly clear to me how this misery arose in 
the imperial times, and has been rendered permanent by the German con- 
querors, who have in no respect made themselves benefactors to Italy. 

CCXVI. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Rome, 17ih October, 1816. 

If a letter which I wrote you from Venice arrived punctually, dear 
Savigny (of which, however, I do not feel at all confident), and found you 
at Berlin, I am certain that you must have written to me ; for my discov- 
eries at Verona were, I should think, almost enough to induce you to order 
post-horses on the spot, and set out for Italy yourself ; and I conjured and 
supplicated you to let me hear from you. 

Just now, however, I will neither torment myself because the wished-for 
letter seems to loiter on the road — although it would be doubly painful to 
me if my packet and its inclosures should not have come to hand — nor 
yet postpone this second letter till I know something certain about it. 

We arrived in Rome ten days ago, and removed, the day before yester- 
day, into the apartments which we have taken for the winter ; the innumer- 
able calls are over except a few, and we have made our acquaintance in 
the circle of my official intercourse. We are now able to survey our posi- 
tion and prospects. Do not make an outcry when I say that these are 
any thing but agreeable; and beg others who may hear this from you, not 
to do so either. Were I a young man of twenty or thirty, coming hither 
as an independent traveler, with a mind free from care, and the prospect 
of returning home sooner or later, perhaps I should find this place to my 
liking, though I would not take my oath of it. But now, what is per- 
manent presses me down with its leaden weight, and what is transitory 
has no charms for me. Only one utterly unacquainted with facts could 
suppose, that the life of an embassador here in Rome could be free from 
restraint and interruption ; but it were really a pardonable mistake to 
imagine it somewhat less fettered than it is ; for that, as such, I should be 
obliged to observe all courtly formalities toward the Spanish court of Charles 
IV., of the Queen, and the Prince of the Peace, and even to the Queen of 
Etruria, I confess I did not dream ; but so it is. I foresaw, of course, that 
I must unavoidably hold frequent intercourse with my colleagues, and 
gradually learn to adapt my conduct to the claims and dictates of their 

* It ought to be noticed, that the year in which Niebubr went to Italy was 
a famine year, and that this operated greatly in heightening the unfavorable 
character of Niebuhr's first impressions of the country in general, though his 
opinion of the moral and intellectual condition of the higher classes remained 
unchanged. Professor Brandis related to the translator, how at Vicenza they 
were positively driven out of the amphitheatre by the crowd of beggars that 
surrounded them, and at Venice were unable to sleep at all the first night, 
from the cries and shrieks of the starving crowd assembled under their windows, 
and calling for bread. 



326 MEMOIR, OF NIEBUHR. 

opinions. Then for any foreigner, except a single man living independently 
of others, Rome has become extravagantly, nay frightfully, dear. Furni- 
ture is only to be procured at this moment at quite unreasonable prices, 
and we have been thankful to hire a very small suite of furnished apart- 
ments for the winter, at fifty scudi a month. We have not yet engaged a 
cook; one has applied, and asks eighteen scudi a month wages, and two 
scudi (nearly three thalers) a day for providing dinner for us three, with 
Miiller and himself. Without a written agreement, nothing can be done. 
A hired carriage costs at least sixty-five scudi a month. The extra 
charges for lights, drink-money, &c, are endless. Do not, however, ascribe 
it to the influence of these unpleasing prospects, or of my vexation at fore- 
seeing how miserably the time I need for the completion of a work which 
was begun, and can only be continued in quiet and retirement, will have 
to be frittered away, when I further confess to you that the sight of Rome 
has by no means made a cheering or elevating impression upon me. This 
it can not have on any one who really sees what really exists. 

The aspect of Venice and Florence appeared to me grand and pleasing ; 
in both, the images and monuments of the times of their greatness still re- 
main visible and tangible. Venice is to me the grandest thing I have ever 
seen, and I liked every thing connected with it. Its inhabitants pleased 
me, too ; their manners are mild and noble, and they have all an expres- 
sion of grave, quiet sadness, that spoke to my inmost heart. In Florence 
every street is historical, and so are hundreds of the buildings. I have 
traced the circuit of the Roman colony, and of the walls after their exten- 
sion, step by step ; visited Dante's house ; read manuscripts written by 
Machiavelli and Benvenuto Cellini ; seen the tombs in Santa Croce and 
San Lorenzo. In both these cities there still exist unbounded treasures of 
genuine art — i. e. up to Raphael's death. Rome has no right to its name ; 
at most it should only be called New Rome (like New York). Not one 
single street here goes in the same direction as the old one ; it is an 
entirely foreign vegetation that has grown up on a part of the old soil, as 
insignificant and thoroughly modern in its style as possible, without na- 
tionality, without history; it is very characteristic, that the really ancient, 
and the modern city lie almost side-by-side. The abominable rage for 
building in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has called into exist- 
ence a multitude of churches and edifices which any unprejudiced observer 
must allow to be mean and tasteless, and removed or built up every 
ancient structure. 

There are nowhere any remains of any thing that it was possible to re- 
move. The ruins all date from the times of the Emperors, and he who 
can get up an enthusiasm about them, must at least rank Martial and 
Sophocles together. In pictures, Rome (except the Vatican) is poor, com- 
pared to those two cities ; Bolognese manufactures, and others still worse, 
I do not take into the account. St. Peter's, the Sixtine Chapel, and the 
Loggie are certainly splendid; * but even St. Peter's is disfigured internally 
by the wretched statues and decorations ; and who, indeed, would deny 
that even Rome has its glories ? The statues I must acquire a taste for 
by degrees ; the doors of the Baptistry, particularly the ornamental work 

* In another letter he says, "The Last Judgment I do not yet understand. 
The statues by Michael Angelo at Florence 1 prefer to those of antiquity. The 
Perseus of Benvenuto seema to me, on the contrary, mediocre." 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 327 

round their edges, which was not designed by Ghiberti, but by Giotto, take 
my fancy more than all the bas-reliefs. Science is utterly extinct here ; 
of philologists there is none worthy the name, except the aged de Rossi, 
who is near his end. The people are apathetic, and truly if they ever were 
remarkable in any way for personal appearance, they must have strangely 
altered. In all Italy (with a few exceptions at Venice) we have not seen 
one handsome face, most certainly not one here ; but much more positive 
ugliness than in Germany. Moreover, what as yet seems to us quite un- 
accountable, there is nothing like song to be heard, either of human voices 
or birds' throats ; only a horrible screeching every now and then. 

This, then, is the country and the place in which my life is to be passed ! 
It is but a poor amends that I can get from libraries, and yet my only hope 
is from the Vatican. That we may be crossed in every way, this is closed 
till the 5th of November, and to have it opened sooner is out of the ques- 
tion ; in other respects, all possible facilities have been promised me by the 
Pope himself, Cardinal Gonsalvi, Monsignor Testa, and the Prefect of the 
Library, Monsignor Baldi : this last is now engaged in printing, at his own 
cost, a work on which he has expended 600 scudi, without hope of receiv- 
ing any compensation for it. It is on seventeen passages hi the Old Testa- 
ment, in which he has found the cross mentioned by name. A manuscript 
collection of inscriptions has been bequeathed to the Vatican by Marini, 
which can not be printed for want of funds. About that I shall write 
some day to the Academy. Should I find nothing in the Vatican, I shall 
be dreadfully disappointed. But I will still hope for something there. It is 
only open three hours a day, and shut on Thursdays and all the innumer- 
able Catholic festivals; and it just now happens that our meetings for con- 
ference have been altered from Thursday to some other day, so that in 
general there will only be three days a week, at most, in which I can work 
there. Of living antiquities I can expect none at Rome, as all the estates 
are " latifundia," without peasants. At Terni I found the old art of land- 
surveying still extant; I rode along what was probably an ancient "limes," 
found the "rigor" and the "V Pedes," and the coals and bricks under the 
"termini." Unfortunately there was no " acclimensore" in the town (as 
the people now call the occupation). I shall go there again if I live till 
next autumn. It is a charming place. There are at least fifty houses in 
the town — among them one very large — which date from the Roman times, 
and which have never yet been observed or described by any traveler.* 
Several of the churches are Roman private houses. If one could but dis- 
cover in Rome any thing like this ! I long inexpressibly to have it for my 
burial-place. Every thing is ancient in Terni and its neighborhood; even 
the mode of preparing the wine. Oh, to have been in Italy 500 years ago ! 

Since my own literary life is brought to a close with this mission, I en- 
deavor at least to make myself useful to my friends, as far as it may still 
lie in my power. Your commissions, dear Savigny, have not escaped my 
memory. First at Bologna ; Ridolfi has been removed thence to Padua, 
where I have twice been without knowing this. Your book has been for- 
warded to hirh through that philological miracle, Mezzofanti. The cata- 
logue of documents I left with the Canon Londi, as it would have required 
full eight days merely to copy it. This Canon and Schiassi, the Keeper of 

* There was, too, an old bridge at Terni, also of Roman architecture, which 
particularly interested Niebuhr. 



328 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the Archives, have promised to get a copy made for me. I obtained a 
similar promise at Florence from Villani and Bandini, on behalf of the 
Chapter ; for as I made it my chief object there to examine the Laurentian 
library as thoroughly as possible for palimpsests (the search proved fruit- 
less, as also in the Marcian library), time failed me there also. I had 
great difficulty in discovering the MSS. of Bologninus. They were found 
at last in a chest. 

CCXVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 30^ October, 1816. 

It makes me very uneasy that I have still no answer from Savigny to 
my announcement of the discovery I made at Verona. The letters to me 
must be detained somewhere on the road, for you would never all keep si- 
lence to me and Gretchen in this manner. 

It is extremely depressing while we can receive no sympathy in conver- 
sation, to be deprived of all communication by which my mind can be 
roused into life. I shall never be able to feel at home here. Any thing 
from Germany, even a leaf from the " Allgemeine Zeitung" is the most 
welcome acquisition to me in this foreign land. 

I have indeed some German fellow-countrymen here ; but it is with 
them as I expected. Among the artists, the two whose conversation I 
find the most agreeable, are Cornelius and Wilhelm Schadow. The latter 
is particularly refined and intellectual ; but he is unfortunately a convert 
to Catholicism. Overbeck, to whom he yields precedence as an artist, and 
whose physiognomy is very prepossessing, is taciturn and melancholy. Rome 
is a terrible place for any one who is melancholy, because it contains no 
living present to relieve the sense of sadness ; the present is revolting, and 
in what exists, there is not the slightest trace of antiquity to be recog- 
nized ; there are not even any remains of the Church of the middle ages. 
It does no good (to me especially) to be thrown back upon works of art and 
nothing but works of art. My colleagues are tolerably agreeable people 
Among the Italians you seek in vain for even interesting conversation, al- 
though this would be far from sufficient for me now. There is only one 
man of talent and mental activity here, at least among the philologers and 
historians — an old ex-Jesuit on the borders of the grave ; and he repeats 
the verdict which I have already heard from the lips of the few old men in 
whom I have become acquainted with the relics of a more intellectual age ; 
u 1' Italia e spenta : e un corpo morto ;" and I find it so. Cardinal Gon- 
salvi is an intellectual man, and would be really distinguished among any 
ministers of any court. I have found some intelligent men among the 
prelates, but we Germans and they find each other's society devoid of 
stimulating influence ; many of our thoughts may be mirrored in each 
other's minds, but pass away and exert no living power. The aged and 
venerable Pope received me with remarkable kindness and affability ; I 
staid to dinner with his chaplain, and it was about the brightest day I 
have spent since my arrival. So far from there being any truth in the 
absurd rumor, that the court of Rome had protested against me personally, 
it turns out that they have looked forward to my coming with great pleas- 
ure, and certainly no Catholic embassador can boast of a more distinguish- 
ed and friendly reception 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816 329 

It is a real misfortune that our goods, consequently my books, have not 
arrived yet. We axe still without tidings of them, and the captain who 
could make shipwreck at Calais in the middle of summer, would need a 
miracle to get safely to Leghorn at this season. Besides, there are Bar- 
bary pirates cruising off the Portuguese coasts, who plunder every vessel 
they come near. I wish I had followed my own plan, and sent the books, 
at least, over land. If they are lost, it would be impossible to replace them 
in Italy. But I bow in resignation to every calamity of this kind. Only 
it is very sad that with them I should lose every means of study and em- 
ployment, for no book is lent out of the libraries here under any conditions 
whatever ; and so how can I undertake any learned work ? The libraries 
are open five days a week, for three hours each day, and of these five 
days, two are those of the ministerial conferences. However, as I said, 
my murmuring spirit is broken ; perhaps just because one only desires 
passionately when one is full of life. All other things may turn out as 
they will, if only God protect and preserve to me my dearest treasure. 
Farewell ! 

ccxrai. 

Rome, 20th November, 1816. 

Brandis is a very agreeable inmate, and sympathizes with me on 

every occasion. 

I have found in the Vatican a manuscript full of treasures from the Ro 
man literature, and am working busily at it. I have discovered fragments 
of the lost parts of Cicero's Oration for Fonteius. and probably also the 
conclusion of that for Tullius. I shall have these fragments printed here, 
together with some passages in the fragment of Livy which their first edi- 
tors could not read, as soon as the indescribably laborious work is finished, 
in order that it may gain me access to more of the same kind. I think I 
can also recognize long passages from Cicero's lost philosophical writings ; 
if I prove to be right, I should like to sell them in England for a good 
price, by way of earning some money for our young artists. Among these, 
there are some really excellent young men, who are languishing for the 
means of cultivating their talents, and are at the same time hard put to it for 
daily bread. I should like to get enough money to set a few of them to 
paint a fresco in the Libraiy. Some of the ecclesiastical officials reject all 
fees; these I shall also lay aside for this object. Cornelius is the most 
intellectual of them. Overbeck and Wilhelm Schadow are amiable men 
and very clever artists, notwithstanding their proselytizing spirit 

I am zealously performing my official duties. Unhappily I am still 
without instructions on all the important points, though I have urgently 
entreated that they may be sent me. The moment is favorable ; besides, 
the people here are well disposed toward me, and I think I shall be able to 
come to arrangements with them 

23d I am glad too to hear that the German artists here call me 

the German minister. People from all parts of Germany who have no 
ambassador here, come to me as the representative of their respective 

countries 

CCXIX. 

Rome, 1th December, 181®. 

Thank Heaven, my books have arrived at Leghorn ; though no doubt 

it will be a long while before I shall get them here. I hone, with their 



330 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

assistance, to return to occupations that can fill my mind. It gives me 
great pain to think that my History must remain unfinished ; that my 
Milly's only request will be left unfulfilled. Oh that I could fulfill it ! But 
what I could do now would be too unlike the former part. From the gen- 
eral account which I have received of the review, mentioned also in your 
letter, it does not vex me much ; it would do so, perhaps, if I read it. They 
may say what they will about the matter ; I am as certain of the correct- 
ness of my views as I am of my own existence, and that I have discov- 
ered the solution of the enigma. It is not the love of conjecture that has 
impelled me, but the necessity of understanding, and the faculty of guess- 
ing and divining. For many points, still more numerous and express 
proofs might be produced, than those I have brought forward. He who 
presumes to pronounce a judgment on this subject without knowing more 
than the current opinions on it, has really no voice at all in the matter. 
Further, it is not to be expected that every one, or even that many, should 
have that faculty of immediate intuition which would enable them to par- 
take in my immovable conviction, for which I should be ready to die. 
Mortifications do not annoy me now as they used to do ; but still it is mel- 
ancholy that the love and appreciation of literature is so declining in Ger- 
many. This I may say without arrogance, that he who refuses respect to 
my History, deserves none himself. 

cexx. 

Rome, Christmas Eve, 1816. 

Now, at the dead of night, as Gretchen has gone to sleep, and all is 
silent in the house, I will sit down to answer your two dear affectionate 
letters. 

You will not misunderstand and misinterpret me for having suffered a 
week to elapse after receiving your former letter before replying to it. My 
eyes will not allow me to write late at night, though until now I have 
been able to read then without difficulty. I have perceived this change 
with alarm for the last month past ; it is probably the effect of having 
worked too hard at deciphering writing more than half obliterated. Per- 
haps it will give way when this murderous work for the eyes is finished, 
which is not the case yet. 

If reflection, when it has become too one-sided, and too domineering 
over a deeply feeling heart, is apt to lead us into errors in our treatment 
of others, it gives us, on the other hand, the power of looking every thing 
in the face, of supporting the most dreadful prospect, and mamtaining our 
equanimity ; but he who has neglected to cultivate this power, and always 
lived exclusively in imagination and direct perception, with these faculties 
nourished by an interchange of every thought and feeling with another, is, 
when a great calamity befalls him, robbed of his whole wealth, and in- 
capable of replacing it. 

My first impression of the city remains unchanged. Brandis, 

too, finds nothing Elysian here. Neither the city, nor its inhabitants, so 
far as it is inhabited, have any charms for me. The magnificent pros- 
pects toward the surrounding mountains from some of the eminences would 
delight you. I still find the ruins of the imperial times uncongenial to 
my taste ; there is wonderfully little that is truly beautiful. The frescoes 
of Ptaphael and Michael Angelo, and some ancient statues, are all that is 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1816. 331 

really living in Rome. I often ascend the Capitoline Hill to look at Mar- 
cus Aurelius and Ms horse, and I have not been able to refrain from caress- 
ing the lions of basalt. You can not stand on the Aventine or the Pala- 
tine without grave thoughts, i>ut standing on the spot brings me very little 
nearer to the image of past ages. 

Among the present living occupants of Rome, our German artists alone 
have any worth in them ; and in their society, as far as their sphere 
reaches, you may sometimes transport yourself for a few hours into a 
better world. Cornelius you know, from his illustrations to the "Nibel- 
ungen Lied." They are incomparably surpassed by those to the Faust, 
which have been already engraved. Cornelius is an entirely self-educated 
man. His taste in art is quite for the sublime, the simple, and grand. 
We are constantly becoming more intimate, and may already call ourselves 
friends. He has an excellent wife, a native of Rome, who I hope will be 
of service to Gretchen when she needs a friend. He is very poor, because 
he works for his conscience and his own satisfaction, and purchasers who 
would or could measure their remuneration by the same standard are not 
to be found. I can not afford to give the artists work, but I am glad to 
be able to help them as a friend when their necessities are pressing. An- 
other frequent visitor of ours is Platner, who has been made a painter by 
an unlucky accident, whereas nature intended him for a scholar and his- 
torian. He is still poorer than Cornelius ; his wife is very like Mrs. Reimer. 
The Tyrolese Koch, whom you will have heard of as a landscape painter, 
is a friend of theirs, an eccentric, petulant man, full of just thoughts and 
bitter sarcasms. With these three we can thoroughly harmonize, though 
Platner is Saxon in his politics, and only attracted to me by personal 
liking ; Koch, however, has such an antipathy to Hackert and to the 
Propyltea, and Goethe's Winckelmann, that he even speaks absurdly and 
spitefully against Goethe himself. I like Overbeck and the two Schadows 
much, and they are estimable both as artists and as men ; but the Cathol- 
icism of Overbeck and one of the Schadows excludes entirely many topics 
of conversation. Rauch was here for some time. Thorwaldsen estimates 
the representation infinitely higher than the thought, and maintains that 
a work which is false in conception, but correct in drawing, is still the 
work of a master ; while, on the contrary, a picture having the noblest 
idea, if in any respect erroneous in drawing, or imperfect in coloring, is 
only that of a learner. There are no learned men among the foreigners 
here at present, except my old tutor and friend, Playfair, of Edinburgh. 
Runsen is here, however, and for him one must feel the highest esteem, 
but he is much engaged with an Englishman to whom he gives instruction. 
You want to know my way of life. Whenever the library is open, and 
no conference with the Secretary of State stands in the way, I go, if the 
weather is tolerable, to the Vatican. There I am still occupied upon a 
manuscript in which I have found lost fragments of Cicero's Orations, a 
part of the fragment of Livy, which the earlier editors have not been able 
to make out, and other fragments of Seneca and Hyginus. The printing 
of these things will soon begin ; I shall dedicate them to the Pope, for 
whom I still retain the reverence I felt at a distance. I often go to the 
Forum, where they have excavated an interesting spot. More distant 
walks can seldom be undertaken at this season of the year. When Gret- 
chen feels inclined we take a drive. Three times a week, my Italian mas- 



332 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

ter comes, who is, however, a very bad one. Every Tuesday, there is a 
large dinner-party at the French embassador's, which, as it always con- 
sists of the same persons, gets more tiresome every time 



1817. 

About this time, A. "W. Schlegel's attack upon Niebuhr' s His- 
tory came out in the Jena " Litteratur Zeitung," and other un- 
favorable reviews of it appeared in the Heidelberg " Jahrbucher," 
which vexed Niebuhr all the more, as, owing to his absence, he 
was unable to defend his work as he would have wished. A much 
more serious annoyance was caused him by a statement which ap- 
peared in the " Alte Freimuthige," from the pen of Gottlieb Mer- 
kel, accusing him of having torn the fragments of the Gaius, 
which he had sent to Savigny, out of books belonging to the Ca- 
thedral Chapter at Verona, and carried them off. Niebuhr caused 
a judicial investigation to be instituted, the result of which was 
that Merkel was condemned to "six months' imprisonment, or a 
fine of 500 dollars, for a libel against the Privy Councilor Nie- 
buhr." 

In April, 1817, his wife bore him a son after long and severe 
suffering. This event gave him. the keenest delight, and it was 
the first thing that dispelled the cloud of melancholy which had 
hung over him ever since his first wife's death. He had never 
had any anxious wishes for children in his first marriage, but now 
his heart yearned toward the child that was born to him with the 
whole fervor of his deep affections. 

During the summer of this year Niebuhr, with his family and 
Brandis, spent some time at Frascati, where he translated an es- 
say on the Poor and Pauperism that had appeared in the " Quar- 
terly Review," and had greatly excited his interest. He occupied 
what leisure he had from the duties of his office this year, in study- 
ing the history of Greece and of Asia, from the time of Philip of 
Macedon to their conquest by the Romans, in order, as he himself 
expressed it, " to obtain a sharply-outlined picture of the period 
when Greek and Roman history first begin to run parallel to 
each other without coming into contact, up to that in which they 
at last coalesce." These studies were interrupted by a lingering 
illness, his recovery from which was long doubtful. It was, how- 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 333 

ever, remarkable that even during his illness his mind felt clearer 
and brighter than for two years previously. While still confined 
to his bed he was able to study, and was conscious of the revival 
of that faculty of divination and happy combination, the loss of 
which had so often depressed him. From this time forward, a 
brighter era in Niebuhr's life begins, notwithstanding his settled 
dislike of the nation among whom his lot was cast. He was, 
however, long unfit for any bodily exertion. 

On his return to Rome, in October, he found Professor Bekker, 
of Berlin, who had been sent with Professor Goeschen, by the 
Academy of Sciences, to follow out Niebuhr's discovery of the In- 
stitutes of Gaius. Niebuhr invited Bekker to become his guest 
during the ensuing months which he intended to spend at Rome, 
and found in his society the opportunity of conversing on the sub- 
jects of his studies, the want of which he had hitherto felt so pain- 
fully since Iris arrival there. He now renewed his investigations 
in connection with Roman history. 

Many foreigners visited Rome during this winter, among whom 
were the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Lord Colchester, and Lord 
Lansdowne ; with the two latter, Niebuhr formed a sincere and 
lasting friendship. 

Letters ivritteti in 1817. 
CCXXI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 1st January, 1817. 

My first employment this day shall be to write to you. Till this time 
two years, the close of the old year was generally a happy and joyous 
time : my Milly made it a festival for us at home, at least, and we used 
to enter on the new year reading and talking together ; frequently, with a 
spoken recollection of you — at any rate, with a silent one ; for she clung to 
you with the warmest, tenderest love. She so often spoke of you with af- 
fection ; she longed so to have you with her, though she was so happy in 
her love, that she could endure your absence. 

How delightful were those eves of the new year, and of Christmas while 
we lived at Copenhagen, and before we had been drawn into the whirlpool 
of politics ! But how delightful they were too at Berlin, although on the 
whole the destruction of our quiet, unconscious, individual life, had issued 
in a new, perhaps more brilliant, but less blessed epoch of our existence. 

I try to employ myself; but it is to little purpose, for I find it is still 
as ever the case with me, that I can only work with success when I linger 
with pleasure over my occupations. My powers are still further paralyzed 
by the disagreeable and deadening effect of the fashionable parties which 
are very numerous at this season. Then, too, the parties here are more in- 



334 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

sipid and and annoying than any I have ever been in before. I have 
formed the intention of, at least, revising and correcting the Roman His- 
tory, if I can not finish it ; I sit faithfully enough for hours together be- 
fore my books, but memory and sagacity will not serve me as formerly ; 
vague recollections of things I have read, and of the existence of relations 
dawn upon my mind, but refuse to let me grasp them, or to assume a dis- 
tinct shape. 

I have many times before felt what it is to be in a foreign land ; I felt 
it least of all in England ; — in Holland more, after the first interest was 
exhausted, but never as I do here in Italy 5 here you can never learn to 
feel at home. There is no possibility of intimacy with those around you 
— that is, with the Italians — no possibility of growing attached to them 
through common interests or feelings. No object of science or of occupa- 
tion brings you together. If we could but let each other entirely alone, it 
would not be so bad 5 for we are not at a loss for society and friends, but 
that is impossible. I must keep up an intercourse with them. Every one 
is titled : every one has a certain rank ; the noble and beautiful alone has 
neither rank nor existence. All the topics which occupy us in Germany 
are foreign to them, have no existence for them; their thoughts are not 
directed to any object or aim. 

I have other anxieties, relating to my father-land, that is, my adopted 
one. There are rumors of war abroad, and they only give weight to a 
long-cherished presentiment of mine. I have long feared a coalition 
against Prussia. I can not bear to think out the details of the calamities 
which such an occurrence may and almost certainly must entail, of which, 
the least would be a progress toward barbarism and slavery. In such 
times, it is no happiness to become a father, and a heavy misfortune to be 
at a distance from one's own country. The impossibility of holding any 
affectionate or interesting intercourse with the natives of this country, is a 
great obstacle to progress in their language. Another hindrance is, that 
while all my anticipations regarding the miserable condition of Rome, in 
a moral point of view, have been fulfilled to the uttermost, I find the dif- 
ference between the wretched language that is current, and the beautiful 
old language of the literature, far greater than I had ever supposed it to 
be. The more modern writings are such as no one could peruse with care : 
it is hardly possible to run through them, still less to appropriate their lan- 
guage ; but neither can you obtain a perfect mastery over the old classical 
language, for the new which you are constantly hearing, mixes itself up 
with it, and corrupts it. In Florence it still lives, but like a learned lan- 
guage, in the pens of many, and in the mouths of a few cultivated men. 
I felt there that I could render myself a complete master of it ; but here it 
is so badly spoken, that it is impossible for me, at least with my present 
capabilities, to acquire it. I have begun to read Guicciardini aloud during 
the evenings ; his fullness and power of vivid description render him most 
admirable as an historian. Further, we do not get on with our reading 
together as I could wish 



CCXXII. 

TO JACOB I. 

Rome, 11th January, 1817. 
. I am making some effort to purchase the tomb of the Scipios. It 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 335 

is a characteristic trait of this modern Rome, that when this unique and 
venerable monument of antiquity was discovered in 1780, the. bones of 
Scipio, which were in a state of perfect preservation, were torn from their 
stony couch and thrown away ! When people try to console you for the 
passing away of the old Roman times, by saying that modern Rome has 
become Christian and Catholic, I can not help quoting Lucan's consolation 
for the civil wars, that all this blood had not flowed in vain, for else Nero 
could never have reigned. 

However, among the artists here, the pious and believing are by far the 
most eminent men, and there are some of them highly deserving of respect ; 
but no place seems to me so fitted to confirm one in Lutheranism as this ; 
unless, indeed, you are in close intercourse with the Pope, for whom your 
personal veneration increases with your knowledge of him 

Have I told you that I have found our Indian numerals in use in a 
Greek MS., which must certainly be older than the seventh century? 

Goethe's Travels have only just made their appearance here, and I am 
reading them much as the Man in the Moon might read Schroter's Seleno- 
graphical Fragments. But it is too wide a subject for me to enter upon it 
now. I had so much to discuss with you and Roth ! among other things, 
the French Electoral Law, which I am quite full of at present, so much 
so, that I have begun a pamphlet on the subject, which will probably, 
however, be left unfinished.* 

CCXXIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 15th January, 1817. 

Gretchen is not at all well But how much, to her as weli 

as to me, hangs on the life of this child, which will very likely be your 
inheritance if Gretchen and I go before you. I know that you will tend 
and educate our child with the warm love of a mother. 

I certainly look forward with gladness to the birth of this child. In 
case it should be a boy, I am already preparing myself to educate him. I 
should try to familiarize him very early with the ancient languages by 
making him repeat sentences after me, and relating stories to him in them, 
in order that he might not have too much to learn afterward, nor yet read 
too much at too early an age, but receive his education after the fashion of 
the ancients. I think I should know how to educate a boy, but not a girl ; 
I should be in danger of making her too learned. In Montaigne's times, 
the sons of learned men acquired Greek and Latin by conversation, like a 
modern language. I would relate innumerable stories to the boy, as my 
father did to me ; but by degrees mix up more and more of Greek and Latin 
in them, so that he would be forced to learn those languages in order to 
understand the stories. If it is a boy, he shall have the name which my 

Milly would have given to hers ; that of my father and of yours If 

it is [a girl] it shall have Amelia's name and yours, and your united 
blessing. 

Brandis feels the effects of our troubles — I fear of the climate too 

For the rest T you know how much I am attached to him, and how I value 

* This fragment is contained in a volume of bis smaller writings, published in 

1342, p. 471. 



336 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

his society. A purer heart, a more noble and unselfish disposition than 
his, there can not exist ; and these derive a rare worth from his refined in- 
tellect, and his quick appreciation of all elevated ideas 

CCXXIV. 

TO NICOLOVIUS. . 

Rome, 22d January, 1817. 

I have been ill for some time, dear Nicolovius : I was so for several 
weeks before I would give way; but at last I was forced to take to my 
bed. ■ Now I am enjoying the refreshing feeling of recovery. While it lasts, 
I will clear off, without further delay, the heavily-accumulated debt of 
answer to your kind and consolatory letter. It is better that my reply has 
been put off so long, for such a black cloud hung over my mental horizon, 
that any thing I could have written in that state would only have given 
you pain. 

The physical cause of my illness was the changeable weather, The 
winter has been on the whole mild up to this time (and if nature is in any 
respect what she was in ancient times, spring must begin a.d. viii. Idus 
Febr.), and pleasant from its dryness. No snow has fallen in the city, and 
the Triton has only had a beard one morning at most; but the Tramon- 
tane gives you cold much sooner than a snow storm, and the excessively 
rapid changes of temperature are more than my constitution can stand, par- 
ticularly since I am frequently obliged to wear full court dress, and then to 
come from before an immense open fire down the exposed staircases through 
an icy-cold sea of air. Then, too, the very quality of the winds here has 
quite altered since the ancient times ; which has, I think, never yet been 
remarked. The Aquilo, or Greco, no longer blows from the N.N.E., but 
from the N.E., and the Scirocco, or Vulturnus, was formerly dry and not 
very disagreeable : thus, too, I do not doubt that the character of the Li- 
buccio and Ostro has changed much for the worse, though in the main they 
are what they used to be. Do you see that I am already becoming a 
Roman of the present day ? for the prevailing wind, and the price of oil, 
and the size of the pagnotti,* are the main ideas that occupy their minds; 
in fact, what can and dare we poor wretches think about besides ? So in 
order to complete the information, which you have a right to expect from 
a Roman of the present day, I beg to announce to you that a fogliette of 
oil costs from two-and-twenty to four-and-twenty bajocchi ; in your time it 
will not have cost more than seven or eight at most. Some aged men 
among the natives remember when an insurrection was near breaking out, 
because it rose from two and a half to four bajocchi. The price would have 
risen to forty with us, as the forestallers and regraters set no bounds to 
their audacity, but that a counter-speculation was set on foot. Meanwhile, 
that forestalling is an honest trade, to which the State can offer no opposi- 
tion ; and that by these high prices and their profits, large capitals are 
created, which contribute much more to the increase of the national wealth 
than the pennies trickling through the poor man's purse for his daily wants 
— nas been proved to satisfaction by political economy, for which science 
there is unfortunately no gallows, because it was only in the schools of the 
rhetoricians that one could bring forward an accusation of inscripti maleficii. 
* Penny rolls. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 337 

Our forefathers, however, would have drowned the teachers of this wisdom, 
and my old Romans would have banished them still more rigorously than 
the Greek sophists, or at least would have ordered them to cease from their 
ludus impudentite. At Castelmaggiore, in Sabina, sixty-two human beings 
have already died of hunger, as I have been assured by a parish priest, who 
seems to be an intelligent and honest man ; this is the state of things 
every where among the mountains. As for ourselves, we are, indeed, in 
no danger of starvation, but I am obliged to renounce all indulgences in 
order to make both ends meet ; can buy neither books nor works of art ; 
and must quietly put up with having it said that we do not live suitably to 
our station. 

I have written about Titel I wish my recommendations of our 

much more eminent young painters may also be successful. I have no 
need to press this matter further upon your attention ; and if there are 
great difficulties with regard to it, I am only making your heart heavy. 
There are two ways hi which something really useful, and conducive to 
the dignity of Prussia might be accomplished ; the one would do honor to 
the government : the other at any rate to the public. Either let the gov- 
ernment summon some of the most distinguished artists to Berlin, and 
commission them to execute some great work in fresco — say, in the cathe- 
dral (to which the King would perhaps be most inclined), or in the Uni- 
versity, or some other public building. Or, if the ministry will not listen 
to this, let a subscription be raised if possible among the wealthy for the 
same object, to which end you must go out into the highways and hedges 
and invite them to come in, where people are beggars only in a spiritual 
point of view, and their scrip is full. I have written to Savigny about a 
similar notion.* I think that the Princess William might be interested 
in this matter, and if necessary I would write to her about it. You have 
probably not yet seen the Faust of Cornelius — have you ? It has, or will 
far surpass your expectations. Cornelius is a very high-minded, intel- 
lectual, and amiable man ; a Catholic by birth, but so little a zealot, that 
when we were talking with him about his favorite idea of painting a Last 
Judgment, though he refused our request that Luther might be translated 
into the heavenly glory, on the plea that he dared not do that, he said 
that he should be represented as holding up the Bible to the devil, and the 
latter as retreating at the sight of it. I fancy Stolberg would approve of 
this too in the depths of his heart — don't you ? I recommend the two 
Schadows strongly to the notice of the government. As for William, I 
fear that he is exerting himself beyond his strength and will not live long ; 
but you must not let his father know more of this than is necessary to in- 
duce him to moderate his demands upon his son. Both the brothers are 
extremely industrious, and like all our eminent young men, of irreproach- 
able morality. Rudolph is beginning to acquire celebrity, and there is 
some prospect of his receiving important commissions from Englishmen. 
If so, it would be a terrible pity that he should not remain here for some 
years to come 5 for it is only through such labors, by producing great and 
numerous works, that the artist can truly develop himself. If obstacles 
of this kind should prevent him from obeying the dictates of his father, 
those who are in Berlin must excuse his conduct to the old man : in this 

* This is interesting as being the first suggestion from which the Art Unions, 
now so numerous in Germany, took their rise. 
P 



338 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

case I have promised to claim your mediation, dear Nicolovius, and yon 
would do a good work if you could prepare the old man for it beforehand. 
There are two others besides, in whose behalf I shall boldly apply to the 
Home Office — the two Rhinelanders, Gau the architect, and the painter 
Moseler, who received stipends from the provisional government. I must 
earnestly entreat that these may be continued to them. Gau is a real 
genius, and has begun to make most important discoveries respecting 
ancient architecture ; he has made drawings at Pompeii, which inspire 
much more confidence in their accuracy than those of Maizoy ; here in 
Rome, he has made observations from the summit of the Capitol, which 
have suggested some very important ideas with regard to the ancient 
ground-plan of the city — for instance, that there are fragments of two 
plans of completely different proportions ; he has also discovered the 
Ulpian Basilicse; and further, recently, that the arch of Janus is con- 
structed out of fragments of the so-called Temple of the Sun. He is ex- 
tremely industrious, and it would be a thousand pities if he were obliged 
to leave Italy just at present. Unless I am much deceived, we may ex- 
pect great things from him. Moseler is at work on copies from the old 
Cologne school of painters, which Wenner is bringing out at Frankfort 
with an historical introduction, which has the great merit of dispelling, 
by its impartial and acute investigation, the mist that even the Boisserees 
have thrown over the supposed early period of art in that city. His re- 
sults, unlike theirs, are in harmony with what is known from other histori- 
cal sources, and therefore it is to be hoped that, after their publication, we 
shall hear no more of a school of art at Cologne under the Byzantine 
Emperors, or even dating back to the Roman times. But it is of great 
moment, to enable him to form a connected history of art from the earliest 
times, that he should see Tuscany and Venice. ...-,. .What are they doing 
about the University on the Lower Rhine ? I wish some appointment 
there could be found for our friend Platner, who is not great as a painter, 
but has a real vocation for literature. If it were possible to establish 
there, or in any other university, a professorship of Italian literature and 
history, and the history of Italian art, that would be the post best suited 
to his talents, and he would fill it with great honor to himself. He has 
begun to prepare an edition of Vasari, and would be quite capable of 
writing an excellent commentary upon Dante, if the publishers would 
condescend to patronize him. Unless my memory deceive me, he was not 
named according to his merits at Berlin. He is a particularly noble- 
minded man. 

Be so kind as to return my kind regards to L. Stolberg, with the assur- 
ance that I should not fail for want of "going piano," even if the utter 
absence of all instructions did not render it impossible to advance a step 
forward. This is a misery for which I can not console myself, because a 
conjunction in every respect favorable is thereby lost to us. The Pope is 
ready, nay, offers to do all that is reasonable; he could not have ex- 
pressed himself more clearly on this subject, than he did to me, a short 
time since, in a long conversation. "We are regarded with favor in a 
political point of view, and as for myself personally I certainly do not 
stand in the way of the business. The dedication to the Pope of the 
Ciceronian fragments I have discovered here (I sent him the MS. a week 
ago), has greatly pleased the kind-hearted old man ; and the government 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 339 

are really more obliging to me in regard to public business than I could 
have ventured to hope ; for they have gone so far as to receive from a 
Protestant embassador, the rilling up of incomplete clerical certificates. 
Still, I ask, if I am to have no other vocation than that of negotiating 
dispensations ; is it at all worth while that my life and real calling should 
be thus sacrificed ? With me, dearest Nicolovius, the inward life is burnt 
out, and my body too is exhausted. I lived through the spirit, and that 
is fallen asleep. 

That the Cathedral Chapter of Cologne should extend its jurisdiction 
beyond the Rhine, is certainly out of the question, so long as the new 
bishopric of Aix-la-Chapelle stands in the way, and this gives a great deal 
to do in the way of negotiation ; but if Cologne were created into an arch- 
bishopric, all difficulties would be removed ; assuming, that is, that the 
government would endow the Cathedral Chapter and bishoprics, as 
Bavaria has done, which really does not involve an extravagant expendi- 
ture, and allow the Chapter to elect their own bishops. I have made a 
report upon the Bavarian Concordat to the foreign department, and hope 
that your department will learn the contents of my report upon ecclesias- 
tical matters. Oh that you had it in your power to get my instructions 
forwarded to me ! 

I am still occupied upon the same codex ; some extremely trivial leaves 
from Seneca, which are dreadfully illegible, but unhappily have never been 
printed, are costing me many valuable hours now, and will probably cost 
my eyes a great part of their power. I hope the dedication to the Pope 
will open the private closets, and then it seems impossible but that some- 
thing should be brought to light. But Rome affords me no help toward 
my History. This Rome is a Codex rescriptus, where Cato's Origines 
have been erased, and a " Diario di Roma"* written over them. It is 
particularly unfortunate that one can not get to the mountains, but that 
is quite impossible, on account of the banditti. We can not even venture 
as far as Palestrina, or Cori. 

Since your time, every thing must have changed beyond recognition. 
This I am assured, too, is the case by those who have long lived here. 
The inhabitants of Trastevere are as tame as all the rest ; as ugly as all 
the rest ; they all steal along in silence and melancholy ; the sound of 
song is nowhere heard. I have not seen a merry face since I have been 
here. 

I deeply sympathize in what you tell me of Goschen's anxieties. Oh if 
it were but possible to be of any help to one's friends under such calami- 
ties ! 

ccxxv. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Home, 1th February t 1817. 
To-day, at eight o'clock, begins the wild buffoonery of the Car- 
nival, to us a melancholy spectacle. It is a question whether even the 
Romans will enact it with any real gayety of heart. Probably they did 
so as long as their easy life still resembled that of children in the holidays, 
but all merriment is strange to them now. A people of utterly vacant 
mind is capable of childish enjoyment as long as it has outward comforts, 
* A miserable little daily paper at Borne. 



340 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

but when a period of agitation and calamity comes, when its playthings 
are broken, and it has to go hungry, it must inevitably become heavy and 
stupid. The difference between my expectation and that of those who 
had seen Rome many years ago, consisted in my having a distinct con- 
ception of this change. There is scarcely any thing more repulsive than 
a fool without mirth. I can well understand how it was that Nicolovius 
and others, in the gayety of their own youth, should have delighted in 
these merry fools. They should come and see them now ! Every counte- 
nance is careworn, even those that are not emaciated by hunger. All is 
so changed here, that even the far-famed gesticulation and grimace of the 
Italians have almost entirely vanished. The people are kept in order by 
the iron rigor of the police ; the cavaletto — the machine on which those 
who infringe the police regulations are whipped — is almost permanent. 
You certainly hear of no murders committed within the city, and it may 
be, that when a people is condemned to live in such an indescribable state 
of physical and political misery, nothing but this iron discipline can enable 
us of the upper classes to live in safety. But what a state of things ! 
You can not venture to go where this coercion can not also reach, and in 
Tivoli, a highly respectable man was murdered, a few weeks ago, in his 
own house by masked robbers. Latium, on the other side of Frascati and 
Albano, is quite inaccessible to me; and yet it is that spot which would 
above all things have rendered my residence here valuable to my History. 

Certainly the country and the climate are beautiful. The fertility of 
the soil is inconceivable, and I should think that seven jugcrs might well 
suffice for a household. But the rank soil exhales death, and even the 
laborers are obliged to forsake the vineyards in summer. This has been a 
winter such as can scarcely be remembered, so mild and dry, but too dry 
for the crops. No snow at all has fallen in the city ; but the high mount- 
ains in the Sabina are adorned with it. That snow can be beautiful, is 
incomprehensible to the Romans, e pur cosa brutta. By this time, how- 
ever, it is melting away. In the gardens, every thing is sprouting and 
growing green, as it does with Us in the end of April ; and it is as warm ; 
the birds are singing and chirping. It is said that in Florence the dis- 
tress is still greater than with us, and that people are dying of hunger 
daily in that city 

The editing of my little work takes up a great deal of my time. The 
fragments will be accompanied by an introduction and notes, besides a 
long essay. I possess Latin words and idioms in abundance, and of the 
best land ; the language is like a living one to me, so that if it were possi- 
ble for the old Romans to rise again, in a few months I could speak it like 
a native, as fluently as I do English; yet I am not safe from the critics, 
for I know how liable one is, even in a modern language, to commit faults 
here and there, which those who are watching for them are quite abfe to 
perceive, even when they are by no means masters of the language them- 
selves. Now we must see if there are any MSS. of a different kind to be 
found. This is very uncertain, and even if some old treasures should still 
exist here, the hitting upon them is a matter of chance, and a good many 
artifices are necessary before you can gain access to them. I have quite 
won the hearts of the people at the Library : I have earned this respect 
and good-will by notices of a few of their detached MSS. The worst is, 
however, that what I seek is not marked in any catalogue, but can only 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 341 

be discovered by personal researches Gretcben is too ill to write to 

you herself 

CCXXVI. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Rome, iQth February, 1817. 

Tbe old Greeks were pretty near tbe mark, wben tbey pictured 

our coasts, i. e. those of Italy, as the land of Cimmerian darkness, and 
fabled Apollo as wandering between Delphi and the noble Hyperboreans. 
It has already come to this with me, that I feel I am growing as superfi- 
cial and ignorant as a modern Italian, and look up to all that you could 
send me with sorrowful humility ; the genuine native Italians would in- 
deed have to look up to it from the depths ; those here, I mean, for whom 
I always feel angry that there is no other name than the shamefully pro- 
faned one of Romans ; for the old men at Venice, Bologna, and Florence 
said indeed with bleeding hearts, that all was over with their nation and 
their literature, and that their departed greatness was but an agonizing 

remembrance 

I rejoice in your plenitude of life, which is such an utter contrast to my 
stagnation. But I will pain you no longer by speaking of this, for I know 
that your love for your absent friend remains unchanged ; I know how 
thoroughly you realize my present situation, and how deeply you sympa- 
thize with me. I will only tell you about myself and all of us what will 
give you pleasure, and speak of you. Your traveler delivered your packet 
faithfully, and it is long since any thing has so delighted and interested 
me. I give you special thanks on my own account for your masterly essay 
on the advocates of legislative novelties, which is as just in thought as it 
is powerfully written. My Cassandra-spirit says indeed, Alas, it will be 
of no avail ! We are absolutely powerless to turn the broad shallow cur- 
rent of the spirit of the age into a deeper channel. But it is in itself a 
noble thing to sacrifice yourself by unwearied exertions ; and more merito- 
rious to scoop out in the mud a bed for the stream, than to sustain a sub- 
lime conflict with wild torrents. I can not help thoughts of this kind ; it 
is not because my own little barrel runs thick, but because every where 
things are on the lees, that I despair of the age and of posterity. Brandis 
will suffer no censure to be passed on the generation of his contemporaries ; 
he himself and Bunsen have, from their own character, a right to chal- 
lenge respect for their generation. I am well aware too, how many excel- 
lent young men you and I have come in contact with, and my dear young 
artists are miles above those who have hitherto borne the name. But it 
is not only true of the legislation of states, that the virtue of the nation 
can do no more than modify the errors of their rulers ; the same thing 
holds good also with regard to the legislation of opinion and sentiment in 
such difficult times. If the road were but in some measure traced out 
and leveled for us, oh then the danger would not be so urgent ! But no- 
thing is further from the fact ; and even if we were willing to allow that 
our country is richer in young men of ability and moral worth, now that 
our poetical age is over, than in the times of our fathers, our hopes for 
the future would not be thereby assured, if, as is undeniable, the problem 
of this generation is a hundred times more difficult of solution. ♦ We want 
a new creation, and in what respect are we prepared for this work ? I 



342 MEMOIR OF NIEBITHR. 

see the Jacobinical spirit that pervades our political writings, and, at the 
same time, I know for certain that thousands of our youths, without any- 
bad intentions, never see any thing else. It is one of my troubles here, 
that I see nothing but the " Allgemeine Zeitung;" some German paper is 
a mental aliment I can not deny myself; but this is bread from which 
you are obliged to scrap off the dirt. Does not the most senseless West- 
phalian and Rhine-league spirit display itself in the most arrogant manner 
in that journal, especially in all that relates to France ? I take a great 
interest in the proceedings in France ; I read the " Journal des Debats" 
from beginning to end every post-day, though there is not a creature here 
(except the French embassador) with whom I can talk of it. I do not 
wish to rate these proceedings too highly, but in my opinion it is saying a 
great deal too little in their favor, to pronounce that we should manage 
things much worse in Germany. But this by the way. There we have 
a ministry which I rate incomparably above any other in Europe, in point 
of intelligence, ability, and good intentions ; a ministry honestly attached 
to the throne and to freedom ; supported by a party adverse to all revolu- 
tions ; opposed by a party who find themselves exactly in the position of 
the Tories under George I. and George II. — a faction whose heart is set 
upon a counter revolution which can not take place, and who therefore 
constitute the most wholesome check possible upon all really revolutionary 
tendencies. 

With regard to the cause of which you are the only true advocate, I have 
heard from Bunsen, and see with my own eyes, that the opposite party have 
an enormous majority. This is the case here too. A new code is to be 
drawn up. The French had annulled all the municipal constitutions. It 
must be confessed their diversity was carried to a great extent. Morelli, 
who made a collection of them in the library of St. Mark, brought together 
more than three hundred, and many were still wanting. Almost every city 
had gradually formed its own civil law, and this may partially explain the 
great rarity of MSS. of the Justinian Code. These repealed constitutions are 
to remain repealed, and the fundamental decree for the Papal States, of the 
6th of July in last year, promises a new three-fold code of laws, while there 
is beyond a question infinitely less capability for such a work here even 
than in Germany ; in fact, absolute incapacity with no individual excep- 
tions. In the mean time, some general principles are promulgated. 
'''What serves as the standard of law in the meantime?" I asked the pres- 
ident of a High Court of Appeal. "That is a great difficulty certainly," 
he replied ; " the old R,oman Code in two thick volumes forse lo conosce ?" 
— An advocate sighed yet more deeply: " un libro grosso cosi ! bisogna, 
facchini per portarlo, he, he. he!" This advocate has composed a prelim- 
inary treatise on criminal law, which is by itself three inches thick ; for the 
Italians, with their utterly vacant minds, delight in native and foreign 
verbiage without ideas. Only a pregnant solid style is distasteful to them. 
He completely proves his vocation according to one of the criteria which 
you lay down, namely, he speaks in a pamphlet of the barbarity of the old 
Roman laws on debt. These belonged to the jus prcetoriale which was the 
work of capriccio. Even the Twelve Tables did not alleviate the barbarity 
of the abominable jus prcetoriale. Appius Claudius, the decemvir, was 
himself a praetor, and there lies the root of the matter. 

We are very grateful to you for Goethe's Life. It no longer, indeed, re- 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 343 

veals to us the golden and silver ages described in the first volume, but a 
very iron age, where even his joys and delights are a fit of intoxication, 
which the spectator neither can, nor desires to share ; a strange, to me for 
the most part incomprehensible kind of delirium, in which he often neglects 
what is most glorious ; and what does he not admire ? In many respects 
he was doubtless infected by the spirit of his age, and in this way his 
mention of the Gallery of the Caracci in the Farnese palace, of the Bolognese 
school in general, and even of the St. Petronilla of Guercino, must be ex- 
plained. I remember taking pleasure myself in Guercino, and even in 
Guido, but my liking for them had passed away before I could venture to 
express an opinion on such subjects. Our friends here are orthodox. But 
I could never have spoken coldly of Francesco Francia, and at the same 
time enthusiastically of Domenichino. The modern Bolognese themselves 
are, indeed, just the same. The Canon Schiassi was obliging enough to 
take me into chapels not generally visited, where wonderful master-pieces 
of Francia lie forgotten, but he smiled at my Transalpine folly. It seems 
to me to be the same with Goethe himself as with many others, who affect 
connoisseurship on subjects for which all true feeling is denied them. I am 
inclined to think that Goethe is utterly destitute of susceptibility to im- 
pressions from the fine arts 5 that is, that he has no inward, native insight, 
which reveals to him what is really beautiful independently of the taste of 
the age, still less hi opposition to it ; or if he ever possessed this gift as a 
young man at Strasburg, he lost it during the unhappy period — passed over 
without notice in his narrative— of his court life at Weimar, before his 
Italian journey, and has never recovered it ; witness his " Winckelmann 
and his Century," " Hackert's Life," the "Propylaea," the "^Esthetic 
Problems" and " Essays on Art" in the " Litteratur-Zeitung," not to speak 
of his ' ; Rhein und Main." This is one thing; another is, the whole tone 
of his mind during his travels and residence hi Italy, which is most remark- 
able, and would alone have rendered this description of his journey more in- 
teresting to us than any thing else you could have sent us ; but is it not 
enough to make one weep ? To treat a whole nation and a whole country 
simply as a means of recreation for one's self; to see nothing in the wide 
world and nature, but the innumerable trappings and decorations of one's 
own miserable life ; to survey all moral and intellectual greatness, all that 
speaks to the heart, where it still exists, with an air of patronizing superi- 
ority ; or, where it has been crushed and overpowered by folly and corrup 
tion to find amusement in the comic side of the latter — is to me absolutely 
revolting ; perhaps more so to me personally, than I can reasonably expect 
it to be to others, but I think it ought to excite sentiments similar in kind, 
if not in degree, in every breast. I am well aware that I go into the oppo- 
site extreme ; that my politico-historical turn of mind can find full satisfac- 
tion in things for which Goethe has no taste, and that I could live content- 
edly without feeling the want of art, not only amidst the glorious scenery 
of the Tyrol, but on moor or heath, where I was surrounded by a free 
peasantry, who had a history. But truth, though it always lies between 
two extremes, does not always lie in the middle. Goethe too, in his early 
life, belonged rather to the Rome of the fifth century of the city than to that 
of the Caesars — rather to the Florence of Dante and Boccaccio than to that 
of Ferdinand the Third — rather to the Germany of Luther and Durer than 
to that of the eighteenth century — nay, he belonged wholly to the earlier 



344 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

period when he wrote "Faust" and "Gotz," and his Songs. What evil 
genius inspired him with the notion of doing justice to the eighteenth cen- 
tury as well? From these " Travels in Italy 7 ' sprang the " Grosscophta" 
and those other productions, in which all that was holy and great in his 
nature is shrouded from view. To return to the question, I maintain, that 
it is absolutely impossible for a genuine and correct taste for art to exist 
apart from historical feeling, because the arts are inseparable • that histor- 
ical feeling will manifest itself wherever there is a true taste for art, without 
any erudition, as is the case, for instance, with Cornelius; that even Carlo 
Maratta and Mengs are not without relative beauties, corresponding to the 
times in which they lived ; only they possess no intrinsic value, and form 
part of an absolutely bad whole. Were I still " qualis Prseneste sub alta," 
I would say much more on this topic. 

When I recall the enthusiasm of Nicolovins for Italy, and compare it 
with the delirium of this book, how wide is the interval between the two ! 
I think that Nicolovius saw much in too fair a light, but the earth and the 
sky enchanted him, and he delighted to his very heart in the naivete of the 
people, which at that time had not yet ceased to exist ; he was sincerely 
in love with all around him. 

Goethe likes Venice ; yet, in the procession of the Doge and the Senate, 
he sees — not the image of her ancient grandeur, of her countless great and 
wise men, but simply a theatrical spectacle. But, throughout, it is curious 
to remark, how he generally leaves the finest objects unvisited, or if he sees 
them, only places them in the second rank. Thus at Padua, for instance, 
he has not seen the Chapel of the Annunziata, where you ought to linger 
for whole days, but is highly pleased with the wide, marshy Piazza della 
Valle, garnished with statues so miserable, that they might have stood in 
St. Peter's ; at Venice, he does not see San Giovanni e Paolo, which con- 
tains Vivarini's master-pieces, and the tombs of the heroes, with inscriptions 
that speak to the inmost heart, nor yet the um of the general who was 
flayed in Candia ; nor San Giobbe, which was then standing in all its glory. 
But altogether, how incredibly little he has seen in Venice, can only be ap- 
preciated by one who has been there himself. Yet, even those who have 
had this privilege, will be disappointed to hear nothing of the Ducal Palace, 
and the true marvels of the Place of St. Mark. Of Florence I will say no- 
thing, not even wonder how any one could hasten through it in such a way, 
nor yet of his omitting to see the water-fall of Terni. I say all this merely 
to prove my assertion that he has beheld without love. 

Italy was then quite another country ; now she is despoiled and sick. 
I can enter into the feelings of those who saw her, when they were not 
made miserable by the sight of mortal anguish, of wounds that can not 
heal. I, had I seen her then, would doubtless have shared the transports 
of those who did behold her in the gladness of their youth • though even 
then my transport would have been mingled with sadness 

I broke off on the previous page, having continued my letter yesterday 
(17th). I broke off, because the merriment of our assembled friends was 
resounding from Brandis's room, and we did not want to shorten our even- 
ing unnecessarily. Cornelius of Dusseldorf, Platner from Leipzig, Koch 
from the Tyrol, Overbeck from Lubec, Moseler from Coblentz, and Will- 
iam Schadow from Berlin, were assembled in Brandis's apartment with 
Bunsen. In different ways and degrees we are attached to them all, and 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 345 

think them all men of talent. Their society is the only pleasure we derive 
from human beings here, and they have already performed much in their 
art, and promise more for the future. I believe confidently that we are on 
the eve of a new era of art in Germany, similar to the sudden bloom of 
our literature in the eighteenth century ; and that it only needs a little 
encouragement on the part of our governments to render us the participants 
of this beautiful development. Cornelius and Platner are, strictly speak- 
ing, mtimate family friends, and so are their wives. Roman women, of 
the good burgher class, are great favorites with Gretchen. The women of 
this class are here incomparably superior to the men, just because they 
have a natural vocation, and show great zeal in fulfilling its duties ; these 
two are agreeable and sincerely kind-hearted. Mrs. Platner is very like 
Mrs. Reimer, which is a great recommendation to us. Next to these, Koch 
and Moseler are our most Ultimate friends. 

In the morning I had been to Cornelius and William Schadow with the 
joyful intelligence that Schukman's letter gave hopes of the fulfillment of 
their ardent wish to paint the interior of a church. If this should be brought 
to pass, it is indispensable that their labors should be shared by their insep- 
arable friend, Overbeck, for both of them do homage to his genius, and re- 
gard him as the highest artist among their contemporaries. Eor my own 
part, I must confess that the genius of Cornelius appears to me even su- 
perior in fertility, while his power of drawing is certainly more wonderful. 
My good news has set them all in motion, and they came to spend a merry 
evening with us. They were followed by their friend and fellow artist, 
Ruschweyh, from Mecklenburg, the eminent engraver, who is likewise a 
very intelligent and estimable man. 

"We were all in high spirits, and amused ourselves with making fun of 
Platner, who has something of the Leipzig politeness still about him, which 
we are determined to dispel by fair means or foul, and he is therefore un- 
dergoing a regular course of strict moral diet, and is carefully watched if 
the least symptom of his old complaint betrays itself. Koch, who has a 
most thorough enjoyment of life, was chuckling with delight over a some- 
what coarse allegorical representation of our ministerial and government 
politics, which he had introduced, after the manner of Shakspeare's comic 
scenes, above, in the foreground of a picture of Hofer setting out on his 
enterprise, which he is painting for the Minister Stein. In one part a hiss- 
ing snake was darting on the Tyrolese — " That means the traitors who 
robbed the country of its freedom at Vienna." Then there are frogs decor- 
ated with orders, and a centipede, which is his particular favorite — "Those 
are the useless government officers." In one corner of the foreground lies 
the jaw-bone of an ass — "That is for me to fight the Philistines with." 
After looking at this, we went on with our reading, where we had broken 
off. Koch always falls asleep over the reading, unless it is something to 
make one's hair stand on end-, so he slept quietly in the corner of the 
sofa. When we came to the passage, where Goethe describes how the 
dead are summoned forth after the curtain has fallen, Cornelius called to 
him — "Koch, the curtains have fallen with you too !" He started, and 
rubbed his eyes — "What is the matter?" 

Cornelius is a most thorough enthusiast for Goethe, perhaps none more 
bo ; at least no man has owed so much of his inspiration to Goethe. He 
has a warm heart, and a fertile and profound intellect. At every spirited, 



346 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

life-like description, his face lighted up with pleasure, but directly that was 
over, resumed its expression of sadness and regret. The passage about the 
gondolier songs found an echo in all our hearts and from every mouth. 
But when we closed the book for the night, and we men still stood talking 
it over after Gretchen had gone to bed, before we sat down to our frugal 
supper, he broke silence to say, how deeply it grieved him that Goethe 
should have looked on Italy thus ; that either his heart must have been 
pulseless during that period — that rich warm heart must have been frozen 
up — or else he must have instantly stifled all emotion, so completely to 
keep himself aloof from the sublime, so completely to divest himself of re- 
spect for the venerable. As for Palladio, we were all agreed that those 
of our party who had been in Venice, had neither at Vicenza, nor at St. 
Justina at Padua, nor in San Giorgio and the other churches built by him 
in Venice, seen any thing that we could call chaste and really beautiful, 
and that it was quite inconceivable how he, who had been the first to do 
honor to the manes of Erwin von Steinbach — he, who had probably directly 
or indirectly reawakened in all our souls the sense of the beautiful, should 
have seen in the works of Palladio sublime antiques, and never so much 
as named the Cathedral of Ratisbon ; that the cause of this phenomenon 
must perhaps be sought in an unfortunate mood, and obstinate steeling of 
his heart against the sense of power in the works of others, in order proudly 
to hold every thing he saw, as it were, in his grasp— to treat it as his 
absolute property, and to depreciate it when it pleased him ; and we all 
lifted up our voices and lamented over that fatal court life at Weimar 
where Samson was shorn of his locks. 

All, however, will allow that very many things must make an entirely 
opposite impression according as they are read on this or the other side of 
the Alps ; and hence also, we trust that our friends will allow themselves 
to believe, that if they, like us, had seen the objects he describes with 
their own eyes, they might regard in the same light as we do, those de- 
tached points which they now see with the eyes of this magical writer, 
whose very brilliancy (and this is what gives the edge to our sorrow) prob- 
ably conceals something from their view. 

To one whose views always rest upon an essentially historical basis, 
Goethe and his works are so entirely a part of history, that every detail 
which helps to throw light upon his own personal history, whether painful, 
or inspiriting like the story of his youth, is in the highest degree interest- 
ing. Do not therefore call me a renegade, dear Savigny ; I have not for- 
given him Sesenheim either ; but if you read parts of this letter to any of 
my friends, for all of whom it is intended, take great care what you say 
to our friend Madame Goschen lest she should be angry with me. 

The artists in Pcome are divided, by a broad line of demarkation, 

into two parties, the one consisting of our friends and their adherents, the 
other of the united phalanx of those who sit around the burning bush on 
the Blocksberg. At their head stand the R.,* fellows who know the 
world, who ingratiate themselves with the foreigners, and to whom our 
academical colleague, Goliath, t pays all respect. This set intrigue, and 
lie, and backbite ; they intend there shall not be light, come what will. 
The former are exemplary in their life : the latter display the old licentious- 
ness which characterized the German artists at Rome thirty years ago. 
* Riepenhausens. t Hirt. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 347 

Happily, at the present moment, the more talented of the new-comers 
range themselves on the side of the former ; the latter, too, are not want- 
ing in recruits. It is significant, however, that some foreigners, and even 
Italians, are begmning to pay attention to the works of our friends. The 
Marchese Massimi has commissioned Cornelius and Overbeck to paint two 
apartments in a villa, and will pay them handsomely. Cornelius means 
to paint a series of subjects from Dante — Overbeck from Tasso. 

I shall cost you a good deal in postage, dear Savigny, but I will 

make amends for it by sending you essays from time to time for your 
journal.* 

With regard to myself, I have often had thoughts of death this winter, 
and Gretchen too, I think. Brandis still more frequently for me. I have 
no strength at all, and have grown excessively thin ; my memory has suf- 
fered much, which is natural when you have ceased to take a hearty pleas- 
ure in any thing. Only what the mind drinks in with eagerness becomes 
thoroughly our own, so as to form part of our life. God help us ! 

The carnival mountebanks are bellowing under our window, though it is ■ 
a little retired street. I have only once gone to see the horse-racing, 
where the barbarity with which the horses are treated is revolting, and 
there is nothing to be seen but a horse which springs from his master and 
rushes wildly away. The masks are a wretched buffoonery ; duli carica- 
tures ; wit is nowhere to be seen or heard. Of course we have not onoe 
attended the masked balls. 

We have taken a house to ourselves from the 1st of June. It is a very 
beautiful place. Houses are the only cheap article in this terribly, incred- 
ibly dear city ; where, moreover, the prices of every thing required in house- 
keeping have risen one-third since our arrival. For fifteen rooms on the 
ground floor, most of them large, besides bedrooms, and six above, we are 
only to pay 300 scudi, about 440 dollars Prussian currency ; in addition 
to these, there are a coach-house and stables and a lovely garden. Nico- 
lovius will remember the theatre of Marcellus, in which the Savelli family 
built a palace. My house is the half of it. It has stood empty a consid- 
erable time, because the drive into the court-yard (the interior of the an- 
cient theatre) rises like the slope of a mountain upon the heaps of rubbish ; 
although the road has been cut in a zig-zag, it is still a break-neck affair. 
There is another entrance from the Piazza Montenara, where a flight of 
seventy-three steps leads up to the same story I have mentioned ; the en 
trance hall of which is on a level with the top of the carriage way through 
the court-yard. The apartments in which we shall live, are those over 
the colonnade of Ionic pillars forming the third story of the ancient theatre, 
and some, on a level with them, which have been built out like wings on 
the rubbish of the ruins. These inclose a little quadrangular garden, which 
is indeed very small, only about eighty or ninety feet long, and scarcely 
so broad, but so delightful ! It contains three fountains — an abundance 
of flowers ; there are orange trees on the walls between the windows, jes- 
samine under the windows. "We mean to plant a vine besides. From 
this story, you ascend forty steps, or more, higher, where I mean to have 
my own study, and there are most cheerful little rooms, from which you 
have a prospect over the whole country beyond the Tiber, Monte Mario, 
and St. Peter's, and can see over San Pietro in Montorio, indeed almost as 
* Zeitschrift fur historische Rechtswissenschaft. 



348 MEMOIR, OF NIEBUHR. 

far as the Aventine. It would, I think, he possible hesides to erect a log- 
gia upon the roof (for which I shall save money from other things), that 
we may have a view over the Capitol, Forum, Palatine, Colosseum, and 
all the inhabited parts of the city. You may fancy the immense height 
of the walls of the old theatre, when I tell you that it lies in the valley 
between the Capitol and the island. You see, dear friend, that there is 
plenty of room for you, according to our promise, if you. will keep your 
promise of paying us a visit. I am quite delighted with this dwelling, 
though I had some scruples in hiring it, on account of the great expense 
of furniture, and the probability that my life may not be of long duration. 
We are all longing to remove into it ; but my wife must have quite recov- 
ered her strength before she can look after the necessary arrangements, for 
which I should be absolutely unfit. Gretchen is very clever in beating 
down and bargaining with these people, who overcharge their customers 
shamefully. She can converse with them about all the things of daily 
life, which I am utterly unable to do. 

It is time to turn now to our literary business 

My constant indisposition has hitherto prevented me from putting the 
finishing strokes to the manuscript of my inedita. I have been obliged to 
supply many passages, which have been cut out of the fragment of the Ra- 
biriana — I hope with success — one passage only is doubtful. To the Fon- 
teiana, I have subjoined the evidences of the Romans having used double 
entry in book-keeping 

And now, as the Italians say, voglio levarli Vincommodo ! that is to say, 
I take my leave of you. What a monster of a letter ! Rest love from us 
both to you and your wife. Remember me to all my friends ; it is need- 
less to name them. Give my special thanks to Roeder for his letter, which 
I shall answer shortly. Farewell ! 

CCXXVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 8th March, 1817. 

. . . .The day before yesterday was one of my Milly's festivals, which 
she never neglected to celebrate. It was the day on which I visited her 
and your parents from Meldorf, before I went to Copenhagen. It was in- 
deed a happy day. How inexpressibly happy I was at that period, how 
cradled in the lap of fortune ! I clung with such warm, unreserved at- 
tachment to you and your family, and your friends. Your father received 
me so kindly, Milly with such frank sweetness : I was so light-hearted, 
was conscious of all my powers, looked out into the world with curiosity 
and bright expectations. The day before yesterday was a very lovely day 
here ; the almond-trees are in full bloom, and the peach-blossom is out j 
with the violets, which have been plentiful ever since December, you can 
now pluck hyacinths in the deserted gardens ; — the air is like summer. 
On that day, the earth was covered with frozen snow ; and though the sun 
shone clear, there was an icy wind ; but what has north or south to do in 
the least with real happiness or even cheerfulness ? 

I expected not to see Schonborn again. There, too, has a fine character 
been rendered almost useless by the force of circumstances ; there was more 
in the heart of the tree than ever appeared in its foliage and blossoms. . . , 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 349 

CCXXVIIT. 

Home, 2d April, 1817. 

The trial is over, and a fine and healthy little boy is born to us •, but it 
has been a terrible trial 

The boy weighs nearly nine German pounds, is fat and large, has red 
cheeks, yellow hair, and blue eyes. How Gretchen rejoices in the. posses- 
sion of her darling child, after all her sufferings, you can well imagine. 
She is very much exhausted, but very happy. She sends you a thousand 
kisses. She received and read your welcome letter during her two-and- 
thirty hours of suffering. Her patience was indescribable. In my terrible 
anxiety I prayed most earnestly, and entreated my Milly, too, for help. I 
comforted Gretchen with telling her that Milly would send help. When 
she was at the worst, and she leant her weary head against me, almost 
dying, she sighed out — "Oh, can not Amelia send me a blessing?" 

I have already told you what our boy's name is to be ; but he shall have 
a Roman one in addition, either Marcus or Lucius, by which he will be called. 
You have the first claim to be his sponsor ; Behrens is one of course, Savigny 
— his guardian if I die — likewise, and Nicolovius. Should Playfair return, 
we shall beg him to perform the ceremony of baptism, as he was formerly 
a clergyman. 

I had so much to say to you on this occasion from the very depths of 
my heart, but I am not calm enough. Besides, I am ^uite exhausted by 
sleepless nights, anxiety, and fatigue. Your heart will tell you all. I can 
not say any thing in answer to your letter to-day. You shall have tidings 
of us punctually. 

Farewell. Give our love and the news to all our friends. 

CCXXIX. 

30th April 
I was absolutely unable to write to you on the last post-day. 
The child is full of health ; he looks briskly about him, and already be- 
gins to take notice. I can handle it very well ; and it becomes quiet with 
me directly. 

I am thinking a great deal about his education. I told you, a little 
while ago, how I intended to teach him the ancient languages very early, 
by practice. I wish the child to believe all that is told him ; and I now 
think you right in an assertion, which I have formerly disputed, that it is 
better to tell children no tales, but to keep to the poets. But while I shall 
repeat and read the old poets to him in such a way, that he will undoubt- 
ingly take the gods and heroes for historical beings, I shall tell him, at the 
same time, that the ancients had only an imperfect knowledge of the true 
God, and that these gods were overthrown when Christ came into the 
world. He shall believe in the letter of the Old and New Testaments, and 
I shall nurture in him, from his infancy, a firm faith in all that I have lost, 
or feel uncertain about. He shall learn to perceive and to observe, and 
thus grow familiar with Nature, and nourish his imagination. 

ccxxx. 

Rome, 18th May, 1817. 
.. .... Gretchen still does not gain ground as I oould wish, and my 

everlasting feverish colds are continually returning. 



350 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

On Friday, the baby was christened by the name I told you. I stood 
proxy for you, Brandis, Bunsen, Platner, Cornelius, Schadow, and Overbeck, 
for Savigny, Behrens, Jacobi, Schon, and Nicolovius. Madame Von Pobn- 
heim was his other godmother. An English clergyman performed the cer- 
emony according to the solemn ritual of the Established Church. I was 
deeply affected, and repeated the vows for my child with my whole heart. 
Even the Catholics who were present could not help confessing the sub- 
limity of this liturgy. The baptism was followed by a prayer for and with 
the mother, which is repeated kneeling. I held the child in your name. 

He is coming on famously. It often gives me a melancholy feeling, 
when, in the evening he stretches out his arms toward the light, and 
makes us carry him to the window, where he gazes up into the sky with 
a fixed, bright, serious look ; then the recollection comes over me, of how 
Milly, too, gazed up into the sky the last time that we took her out. I 
thank Heaven that I can at least shed tears over this remembrance. 

With my old friend, Playfair, I have renewed the times of my youth, 
and am glad to find that there are some in Scotland who still retain an 
affectionate remembrance of me. The dear old man and I parted with 
heavy hearts. The Marquis of Lansdowne regrets that I am not embas- 
sador in London. I harmonize very well with the English nation, and am 
sure that I should soon feel at home among them. How I miss writing to 
my father now, when I meet with people from distant countries, and ask 
them questions ! I have made the acquaintance of an intelligent priest 
from the neighborhood of Nineveh, an Abyssinian ; and of an Englishman 
who has lived for twenty years in the wilds of North America. 

# CCXXXI. 

Frascati, 20tk June, 1817. 

I have spent yesterday and last night in thinking of my Milly, and this 
day, too, is sacred to these recollections.* I saw her a few days ago in a 
dream. She seemed as if returning to me after a long separation. I felt 
uncertain, as one so often does in dreams, whether she was still living on 
this earth, or only appeared on it for a transient visit ; she greeted me as if 
after a long absence, asked hastily after the child, and took it in her arms. 

Happy are those who can cherish such a hallowing remembrance as that 
of the departure of my Milly, with pious faith, trusting for a brighter and 
eternal spring. Such a faith can not be acquired by one's own efforts. 
Oh, that it may one day be my portion ! Not that I am a materialist ; 
you know well that no one can be further from that than I am ; but the 
possibility of an existence, of which we can form no distinct conception, is 
not enough for me, does not help me ; other and opposite possibilities al- 
ways present themselves. I well know what is that faith which deserves 
the name, and recognize it as the highest good. But it would only be 
possible to me to attain it through supernatural communication, or wonders 
and signs beheld with my own eyes : it is one thing to respect, and not to 
reject, quite another really to believe, as in one's own existence. 

What I hear and see among our acquaintance often leads my thoughts 

to the subject I have mentioned — faith, and its true nature. Several of 

them have a very earnest belief, though their belief is of very different 

shades ; there are others, who fully imagine they possess religion, yet to 

* Amelia's birth-day. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 351 

whom one can scarcely attribute more than a self-delusive assumption of 
it. I associate chiefly, indeed almost exclusively, with the artists who 
belong to the religious party, because those who either are decidedly pious 
or who strive after piety, are by far the noblest and best men, and also the 
most intellectual, and this gives me an opportunity of hearing a good deal 
on such subjects. Cornelius alone seems to have grown up from childhood, 
with uniform and lasting habits and convictions, which are as rooted in 
him as the facts of his experience ; and his Catholicism is at bottom no- 
thing more than the creed of the old Protestants. This he owes to the 
training he received from a pious and by no means bigoted mother, and to 
his completely unlearned education, in which the Bible (though in a Catholic 
family) was his only book. The case appears to me very different with 
those who are born in the Catholic faith, and have grown up in indiffer- 
ence. Of those who have been converted to this religion, * is an 

enthusiast, and quite illiberal ; he is a very amiable man, and endowed 
with a magnificent imagination, but incapable by nature of standing alone, 
and by no means so clear-headed as he is poetical. He bends easily and 
naturally under the yoke which another of our intimate friends, who has 
taken the same false step, has constantly to impose upon himself afresh, 
because it slips off him.f Another, who is in the Roman college, I hope 
to bring back to Germany, and to see converted to Protestantism ; he is a 
Jew, baptized on full conviction, who had taken a violent disgust to the 
modern^ teachers among the German Protestants, but finds every thing here 
so revolting, that he has been almost driven into insanity by his despair.^ 
Mournful as is the absurdity of going over to the Catholic religion, it may 
be accounted for, on the part of our young friends, in a manner which does 
them no discredit ; but strikingly shows how entirely many of the Protest- 
ant clergy have departed from all positive faith, and done violence to their 
conscience ; for if those who had the teaching of these youths had instructed 
them in the doctrines of Luther, they would certainly never thus have gone 
astray. It was because they missed, in what they had been accustomed 
to regard as religion in their homes, that, without which religion is mere 
ballast, and found it, in words at least, at Rome, that they have been 
seduced into adopting all the follies of P^ome as well. If my position did 
not forbid it, I should like to exhibit to the world the present state of the 
church here ~ it might, perhaps, be of use. I have become acquainted with 
one very remarkable man, a peasant from Treves, who came to Rome to 
get absolution from the Pope for some scruples, but has met with a very 
contemptuous reception. From his example, it is very clear that the 
Romish clergy are quite right with their views in prohibiting the reading 
of the Bible ; for, by diligently reading the Scriptures, he had become no- 
thing else than a very warm old Protestant pietist, without, however, be- 
ing aware of it himself. He insisted boldly that the Bible alone was the 
source of faith, and that differences of belief could not affect eternal hap- 
piness. He had some similarity with Jacob Boehme in the style of his 
mental culture, which was quite uncommon, and in the persecutions he 
had undergone; was like him an enthusiast, and not free from the proud 
humility of the pietists, though only infected with this to a slight degree. 
I felt a great respect for him personally, and I hope to save him from fur- 
ther persecution. His history and character seem to belong to quite a 
* Overbeck. t Platner. t Dr. Wolff. 



352 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

different age. His case has made me think it probable that if the Protest- 
ant clergy still retained a positive belief, and the Bible were circulated in 
Catholic Germany, a second Reformation would not be at all impossible. 
I told you before that Gretchen was ill ; I trust that it is not a fever, 
but your hopes that her health would improve after her confinement have 
been by no means fulfilled. We came hither from the city, because I 
wanted to spend these few days quite without interruption 

CCXXXII. 

Rome, I2tk July, 1817. 

Your welcome letter has quite relieved my anxiety respecting your health. 

It has been very hot for the last few days, but in our noble spacious 
rooms I bear the heat better than I expected. Besides, we have both of 
us improved in health, and therefore in spirits, for some time past. Our 
sweet, healthy, lively baby has also had its share in this change for the 
better. I delight in giving myself up to my joy and pride in him, nurse 
him a great deal, play with him, and am rewarded by his smiles and fond- 
ness for me. But his mother is still the favorite, and I willingly yield her 
the privilege ; it is her recompense for her unspeakable sufferings. 

I wrote to you, a short time since, about my little work, the translation 
of an English Essay.* I have always taken a great interest in all relating 
to these simple duties of humanity. I thank Heaven I have often had it 
in my power to give help and relief, and this is still my greatest pleasure. 
If I could choose my sphere of action now, it would be that of the most 
simple and direct efforts of this kind. Since I can not, I rejoice in all that 
others are doing in this way. I have little faith in the introduction of 
freer institutions, still less that they could lead to good results, while na- 
tions and their ideas remain what they are. Our evils could only be 
removed by a total change in our mode of life and habits, by the discipline 
of our morals and manners, by an increase of general comfort, and by the 
greater simplicity of our whole life. It is to me so pitiful and disgusting 
that men should quarrel about the law-giving, while they are indifferent 
about the laws themselves, which are the only end of the legislation ; and 
I find no other better object than this among any of those who write on 
such subjects ; the high-sounding phrases of liberty disgust me : not that 
my heart does not beat for liberty, more warmly perhaps than any of 
theirs who so mistake her true nature ; but their worship of her is exactly 
like a Roman Catholic service. If a single one of these writers would but 
go his way, and, at the sacrifice of his leisure and comfort, teach children, 
hold out consolation and a helping hand to the poor man where he can do 
no more; if he would strive by his advice and influence to obtain land for 
the cotter, property for the peasant ; if he would first divest himself of the 
prejudices to which he is a slave ; if, in these and other ways, men would 
begin to combine for humble and laborious objects which no government 
could hinder, we should have something on which to rest our hope. But 
so long as I see no public spirit, no public virtue, no self-discipline — so 
long as I see nothing, even among the better class, but the idolatry of 
wealth (as regards the commonwealth, if not for themselves), and the de- 
lusive notion that you can produce a work out of all materials alike — that 
figures kneaded out of clay can endure like those hewn out of marble — so 
* Ab Article in the Quarterly Review, on the Poor. Vol. xv. p. 187. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1817. 353 

long, if I were a ruler, should I give little satisfaction to the clamorous, 
and excite a terrible outcry because I would not, with them, begin to build 
from the upper story downward. How gladdening is it to see the humane 
efforts made by such numbers in England for really good objects, for the 
prosperity and education of the people ! The observations on these sub- 
jects, contained in the article I have mentioned, are as if written from my 
inmost heart, and this first attack upon the Mammon system is so entirely 
what I have thought, and in part already said, that I should like to 
diffuse it as widely as possible. I should like to add many ideas of my 
own to it. In my earliest youth the longing desire arose within me to 
spend my life exclusively within the precincts of a narrow circle, teaching 
and laboring; would to God it had been my fate ! 

CCXXXIII. 

Frascati, 20th September, 1817. 

As the direction of this letter will have calmed your worst fears on my 
account, I will begin at once with the announcement that I am decidedly 
improving. I am indeed still writing to you from my bed, to which 1 am 
confined for the greater part of the day, and I am not secure from the 
chance of a relapse, but my state is very different from what it was a 
week ago. Then, I scarcely expected to write to you to-day, or only in 
order to prepare you for my departure. I thank God that the issue has 
been otherwise. How it would have grieved and shaken you ! This severe 
illness seems to have done me good mentally. The inclination to study 
and work has once more awakened, and many ideas which I could never 
recall before, have returned with full distinctness as I lay upon my silent 
sick bed. God grant that it may last ! I shall do all in my power to 
promote it. My weakness is still far too great to allow of my converting 
the desire to work into actual work. Else I feel as if I might yet be able 
to redeem my promise to Milly (to continue the History), and to meet her 
eye without fear. 

During most of the time, I have regarded my death a.s quite certain, and 
often thought it near. I felt it sad to die thus in a foreign land, but I was 
indescribably calm, and quite peaceful in the prospect of another life. My 
Milly with her love would have embraced me with joy. I more than once 
chose the day on which I wished to die. and hesitated between the 8th and 
9th of October ; the first, the day of our (Milly's and my) arrival at Berlin ; 
the second, that on which I laid her in her grave ; where I shall never have 
the ardently-desired blessing of resting by her side. 

By this time, the thought of death has nearly forsaken me ; though I 
do not see how I am to recover fully ; particularly as the physicians here 
know no tonic but quinine, which I can not take at all. 

If I recover, I mean, in the first place, to write a treatise on the 

constitution of the Greek provinces and cities of the Roman Empire, up to 
the time of the later emperors ; and another to prove that an oration at- 
tributed to Dion is not his work. The former will conduct at its close to 
an investigation into the constitution of the Christian communities. From 
a passage in Origen, I am persuaded that they were formed on the model 
of the political communities, and must therefore have differed in the East- 
ern and Western churches, which throws quite a new light upon the sub- 
ject. I have also collected some decisive proofs, principally from the style, 



354 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

that the author of the African war is not that of the Alexandrian. Ques- 
tions of Latin philology have heen long attracting me, and I hope, if I live, 
that I may yet become a proficient in this branch of learning. In pur- 
suing these studies, I have a view also to the instruction of my Marcus. I 
hope to get practice in speaking from Bekker, whose coming is a very joy- 
ful prospect to me in a philological point of view. 

My poor Gretchen suffers doubly through my illness ; both mentally and 
physically. Marcus is a very lovely child, large, fat, full of life and very 
sociable. Brandis's kindness, judgment, and amiability are not to be ex- 
ceeded. 

CCXXXIV. 

Rome, 18th October, 1817. 

Bekker' s arrival has given me great pleasure ; it is agreeable at 

once to give and to receive. I shall spend a great part of the evenings in 
grammatical and critical readings with him. We mutually know what we 
are worth, and in what respects one excels the other, while neither regards 
the superiority of the other with envy. It is a satisfaction too, especially 
when your own heart has been torn with sorrow, to feel that you are to a 
distinguished man, what few can be, and some even of these do not choose 
to be. Bekker has been rudely, and even cruelly kept down and oppressed 
from his childhood upward ; and it has made him morose and reserved ; 
with us he is already beginning to expand, is becoming open and confiden- 
tial. He had beforehand told others in Berlin, that I was the only person 
with whom he could become so. He lives with us, but dines out of the 
house 

ccxxxv. 

Rome, 13th December, 1817. 

Pbome is altogether an unhealthy place. The proportion of deaths 

to births is as three to two, and frequently still more unfavorable. It is 
worthy of notice that this was not the case under the French. One of the 
physicians here accounts for this by the superiority of their sanatory regu- 
lations. At that time, the children were obliged to be vaccinated. Last 
year 940 died of the small-pox. At that time, there were workhouses ; 
now, the paupers are put into filthy dens, where they are thinned by con- 
tagious disorders, and die of hunger. 

I have taken up a study which bears directly on the Eoman history : I 
am traversing the desert of the ancient Latin scholiasts. I did not ex- 
pect much from it, but I have found things of quite unhoped-for import- 
ance, particularly relating to ecclesiastical law, and the daily life of an- 
cient times. It will very likely be possible to sketch a tolerably complete 
picture of both, though the separate features are still for the most part un- 
connected. I should like to re-write many passages in my first volume, 
by which the whole could gain much in force and precision. 

I have still less idea how any improvement is to be brought about in 
religious than in civil affairs ; unless we have a new revelation. A relig- 
ion in which people can not stand firmly on their feet, but must hold on 
by their hands while their feet are suspended in the air, can not long main- 
tain itself. 

The coarse proceedings on the Wartburg, mingled as they are with re- 
ligious comedy, have deeply distressed me. They exhibit our youth as 
empty, self-conceited and vulgar. Freedom is quite impossible when tliu 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN. 1817. 355 

youth of a country are devoid of reverence and modesty. If I wrote ac- 
cording to the dictates of my heart, they would burn me also in effigy, and 
yet I know that all the genuine republicans of all ages would subscribe to 

my doctrines 

CCXXXVI. 

TO SAVIGNY 

Rome, 26th December, 1817. 

The great difference between this and the previous winter, and which, 
in truth, far outweighs every thing else, is the possession of our darling 
Marcuccio. The child retains' his perfect health and beauty ; is always 
lively, always sociable, and favored by nature. 

I am sadly pinched for want of books, now that the inclination to con- 
tinue my History has re-awakened during my illness and recovery ; my 
courage to attempt the work is still far from adequate. I have been study- 
ing the Macedonian history (in its widest sense) subsequent to Alexander ; 
and though it is impossible to restore the whole structure of this history 
from the miserable fragments yet remaining, I have attained a subjective, 
intuitive view after my fashion, of the vita publica et privata, both of this 
kingdom and of Greece, during the period for which we have no continuous 
narratives, so that I think I should be capable of delineating it, when I 
came to the epoch where the transmarine policy of Rome commences. 
These investigations introduced me to that extremely interesting arch- 
rogue, Josephus, whose writings are a mine of treasure for Macedonia, 
Syria, and Egypt ; from him, I went on to researches into the Jewish con- 
stitution under the second temple (the Sanhedrin) ; and as I was reading 
the old Testament (with which, in our German version, I believe myself 
to have been more minutely acquainted, for many years past, than ninety- 
nine out of a hundred theologians) afresh very assiduously during my ill- 
ness, I was compelled unawares by my critical good or evil genius, as the 
case may be, to observe, not only the very remarkable character of the 
Mosaic institutions, but also the difference of authorship in one and the 
same biblical book, the date of their composition, and the totally mistaken 
views prevailing — so far, at least, as I am acquainted with the various 
opinions on this subject — with regard to the history of the Hebrew litera- 
ture, &c, &c. These are investigations, however, which to be carried out 
to distinct and positive results, would require a knowledge of the innumer- 
able notoriously worthless writings on these points, and the few sensible 
works of whose existence I am aware, (or believe in out of charity), as 
well as an array of oriental philology, which I am too old, and moreover, 
just now, too much occupied with Marcuccio to acquire. Besides, I should 
probably give offense to some whom I would least wish to offend, and 
what is worse, please people of a different stamp. For the former would 
be quite wrong in taking offense at me. I might possess a much firmer 
and more lively faith (I only know an historical one) than from the circum- 
stances of my mental history is now possible for me in this world, and yet 
hold at the same time my present critical views. . . . ... . 



356 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR, 



1818. 



The events which took place in Germany and France during 
the latter half of 1817, recalled Niehuhr's attention to political 
affairs. During 1816-17, France had been thrown into great agi- 
tation, by the success of the ultra-Royalist party in obtaining the 
disbanding of the Imperial army, the banishment of persons con- 
nected with the Revolution, the re-enactment of the laws prohibit- 
ing divorce, &c. ; and it was rumored that they contemplated no- 
thing less than the restoration of landed property to its original 
owners. Toward the close of 1817, the Moderate party had 
come into office, but met with very partial success in their efforts 
to calm the storm that had been raised. In Germany, what was 
called the gymnastic regime had been in vogue since 1815. A 
large portion of the professors of the universities, and government 
officers, and nearly all the young men, wished to advance with 
rapid steps along the path of reform ; and, as one means to this 
end, organized the youths in the schools and universities into as- 
sociations, called Burschenschafts, for the promotion of their views. 

They also laid great stress upon physical training, which should 
enable each individual personally to struggle for the good cause, 
and gymnastic exercises occupied a considerable portion of the 
hours spent in the schools. There was, however, a strong party 
who wished to suppress — by violent means if needful — the devel- 
opment of all popular institutions, and bring things back to the 
old condition existing before the Revolution. The Tricentenary 
of the Reformation was celebrated in 1817 throughout Germany, 
on the 18th of October, the anniversary of the battle of Leipsic, so 
that the festival was at once a commemoration of the religious and 
political liberation of the country, and naturally gave rise to con- 
templations of the present, and anticipations of the future. The 
Burschenschaft of Jena resolved to celebrate the day by a proces- 
sion to the Wartburg, the fortress where Luther had been confined, 
to which they invited delegates from all the German universities, 
excepting those of Austria. They were accompanied by the au- 
thorities of Eisenach and four of the most celebrated professors of 
Jena — Fries, Oken, Kieser, and Schweitzer. In the first instance, 
moderate speeches, exhorting to patriotism and virtue, were de- 



EMBASSY TO ROME. 357 

livered, and the assembly broke up and returned to Eisenach, 
where after dinner a service was held in the church. In the 
evening, however, when they formed a torch-light procession to 
the "Wartburg, to kindle the so-called October Fire (the bonfire 
still customary on the 18th of October), much more excited 
speeches were made ; and, at last, when most had already left 
the mountain, a Berlin student appeared with a bundle of books 
and papers, and exclaimed — " As once Luther, by the burning of 
the papal bull, gave the signal for the separation from the Rom- 
ish chair, so shall a signal be given here by devoting to the flames 
the writings branded with the contempt of the German nation for 
their un-German tendencies, and their opposition to the spirit of 
the age." And amid the applause of the spectators, various 
works of an anti-liberal and reactionary character were thrown 
into the fire, together with an Austrian corporal's stick, a Hessian 
pig-tail, and a Prussian military sash, after which Charles Follen's 
celebrated "Grosses Lied" was sung. Unhappily, several of the 
works thus anathematized were the productions of men high in 
the Prussian service, Yon Kamptz, Ancillon, and Schmalz ; and 
since rumor, as usual, greatly exaggerated the occurrences, the 
governments of Berlin and Vienna took up the matter, caused the 
ringleaders in the affair to be arrested, and instituted inquiries, 
which lasted for a long time, on the supposition that a revolu- 
tionary conspiracy had been formed ; but it was finally proved 
that there was no ground for such an idea. Niebuhr, as will be 
seen from his letters, agreed with neither of the contending par- 
ties. # 

This festival also gave rise to many theological productions, 
and others were called forth by the speech of the King of Prussia 
on the occasion, whose recommendation of a union of the Protest- 
ant Confessions was the first germ of the efforts that finally issued 
in the fusion of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches throughout 
the greater part of Prussia. Previous to this date, there had been 
in many sincerely pious Protestants, who were disgusted with the 
rationalism that widely prevailed in their own church, a disposi- 
tion to fraternize with the Catholics, and a hope that something 
like a compromise might be brought about. But the spirit of con- 
troversy evoked by this celebrated festival, and the revival of the 
order of the Jesuits by the Pope, widened the existing religious 

* See his letters of 13th December, 1817, and 10th of January, 1818. 



358 MEMOIR OF N1EBUHR. 

differences of every kind, and produced much bitterness between 
the Catholics and Protestants. 

The strong interest which these circumstances excited in Nie- 
buhr, suggested to him the idea of delineating the moral and in- 
tellectual history of Germany since the Thirty Years' "War, but 
the impossibility of procuring the necessary materials in Rome 
prevented the execution of this project. 

Incitements to research in other directions were not wanting, 
and, among other things, he discovered in the course of the sum- 
mer the key to the Oscan tongue, and succeeded in partially de- 
ciphering an inscription in that language. 

In July, his second child, a daughter, was born. 

In the autumn, he had to regret a serious loss, in the departure 
of Dr. Brandis, whose health was much injured by the climate of 
Italy, and who, besides, wished to devote himself exclusively to 
those philosophical researches which have since raised him to so 
eminent a position among the scholars of Germany. He was suc- 
ceeded as Secretary of Legation by M. Bunsen, who, however, as 
he was already married, did not reside in Niebuhr's house. 

During this winter Niebuhr obtained the appointment of a 
Protestant clergyman to the embassy — a circumstance which 
afforded him much satisfaction. 

Letters written in 1818. 

CCXXXVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, YOtk January, 1818. 

I was frightened at the prospect of composing my third volume, 

and the disproportion of my present powers to the work, although there 
are many interesting materials for it. 

I have become indifferent to the reception of the earlier parts ; probably 
I should not be so if by straining all my powers I had brought forth an- 
other from my inmost soul. Would it be well if I were so ? No, I am 
convinced that this philosophical equanimity is real death, and that the 
most vehement emotions, as they have ever been the companions of all 
greatness and beauty, are also necessary to their existence. Without this 
storm, the mind will not sail over the floods, though it may sink in them, 
and now perhaps generally does sink. I also look forward at the turn of 
the year, with gloomy forebodings, to the age that is before ns. I see 
nowhere any encouraging signs : if there are deficiencies among the rulers, 
there are quite as many among the governed. It is utterly impossible to 
deny that our youth are, on the whole, declining in cultivation, and be- 
coming coarse and barbarously indolent. Under the gymnastic regime 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1818. 359 

there must inevitably be an end of science and literature; and, indeed, of 
all that is noble, quiet, and beautiful. 

Did I tell you that ray correspondence with Stem has been renewed by 
a friendly letter from him containing commissions ? Stein is very melan- 
choly and hopeless. 

In France, there is a dreadful fermentation, which will probably lead to 
fresh calamities. It is but too certain, that the French also will not find 
the right path again, at least not for a long time to come ; but they have 
gained much in intelligence, and you not unfrequently hear thoughts from 
them, more sound and weighty than any which reach us from Germany. 
The Germans seem to be reeling in a beer revel. 

We have scarcely joined at all in society hitherto, but that will not do 
any longer. We are settled in our house, and must now, from time to 
time, give large parties. One is awaiting us to-morrow. With the French 
envoy I am most intimate. I am very friendly with the old Bavarian em- 
bassador, but he is quite decrepit. 

CCXXXVIII. 

Rome, 1th March, 1818. 

Your last letter, written out of the regular course, was a refreshment to 
me such as I have not had for a long time. 

It has always given me a sufficiently fearful idea of the sufferings of 
hell, to conceive of them as consisting in a full perception (devoid of all 
consolation, all delusion, all intermission), of the whole misery into which 
we have been plunged by sin — of all the consequences that have sprung 
from it, and all the happiness of which we have deprived ourselves. 

Yesterday was always- a festival to me from 1798 to 1815; that is, 
ever since my visit to your parents and Milly in Heide. The day of my 
visit, and indeed that last winter that I spent in Kiel, in constant inter 
course with you, was one of the brightest spots in my life. My Milly 
always kept the day, sometimes by giving me little presents, always with 
conversation, and a holiday dress. Her first word on waking in the 
morning was to remind me of it. I believe that I often dream both of her 
and you ; but my former vivid consciousness of my dreams has passed 
away, along with my vivacity in all other respects. Fate has, however, 
granted me the festival of this day by permitting me to see both you and 
Milly in my dreams, in which you were both so lively, so affectionate, so 
really present to me, that I awoke, and even in awaking still retained a 
sense of the old happy days 

I have received Harms's Theses,* and Falck's article on them. They 

* Harms's " Ninety-five Theses" were among the numerous theological pub- 
lications that appeared on occasion of the Tricentenary of the Reformation 
They were directed against the rationalistic tendencies of the age, and main- 
tained the old orthodox Lutheran doctrines of the utter corruption of human 
nature, and the necessity of a correct creed to salvation, in all their strictness. 
The Theses made a great sensation, and called forth numerous answers, to which 
Harms replied in a "Defense of the Theses" and a pamphlet entitled "Demon- 
stratration of the Worthlessness of the Religion of Reason." Harms is still 
preaching with all his wonted vigor, and influence upon the minds of his hearers, 
in Kiel, at the age of seventy-three (1851). Although he has been blind for the 
last two years, he has lately published a Letter against the Kirchen Zeitung, 
edited by Hengstenberg, vindicating the one hundred pastors who have been 
expelled from Schleswig-Holstein by the tyrannical Danish government. 



360 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

have occasioned me much thought. I wrote an essay on them, but it is 
too bitter. We should soon come to an understanding with each other 
about them by word of mouth. I agree with Harms in all that he says 
about the irreligiousness of a system of morals on an independent basis ; 
and further, in his aversion to a Christianity which is none, and I even ap- 
prove of his personalities against many of your Holstein theologians. But 
I consider his limitation of genuine Christianity to the symbolical books,* 
and his zeal against the union of the Protestant churches, as an error. 
All who are acquainted with church history know, that no system of doc- 
trine respecting redemption, hereditary sin, grace, &c, existed for at least 
the first two centuries after Christ ; that on these points, opinions and 
teaching were unfettered, and that those were never considered as heretics 
who simply accepted the Creed (the so-called Symbolum Apostolicum) , 
kept in communion with the Church, and were subject to her discipline. 
Now certainly this test would be amply sufficient to exclude those hypo- 
critical pastors who only nominally belong to the Church ; for such can not 
accept this Confession of Faith. This Creed, together with a simple faith 
in the contents of the New Testament as the revealed word of God, is at 
once sufficient and indispensable ; but I do not see why we should desire 
to impose any further yoke. The orthodox divines of the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries subscribed to the symbolical books with a fullness of 
conviction which we can not possess now, because they are a systematic 
body of doctrine, and the systems of one century are uncongenial with the 
mental habits of another. But it was this party which persecuted the 
most pious men of those times — Paul Gerhard, Franke, and Spener. If 
the golden age of Christian liberty subsisted within the limits Lhave men- 
tioned, why must we now have slavery ? 

Next, as to the union of the Churches. t I should say that one must be 
a Eutychian to lay any stress upon the dogma of consubstantiation. A 
pietist, for whom I have a great regard, delights in the idea of union ; for, 
he says, "That of which I am convinced is, that the Lord's Supper is a 
promised and miraculous means of conveying strength and sanctification, 
but all that simply concerns verbal interpretation is very unimportant to 
me ; and the form of the ceremony, and the theological doctrine respecting 
it, are as indifferent to me, as it was to the blind man whether his eyes 
were touched with clay and spittle, or with any thing else. But it is not 
indifferent to me whether we Protestants remain divided or not. considering 
our present position between an active mysticism and Catholicism. But 
for our divisions, the whole of Germany would have become Protestant, 
and the misfortune of the Thirty Years' War would never have taken 
place." Luther's position was very different from ours, and the use of 
historical insight is to show us clearly how a thing may be wise at one 
time which is not so at another. After all, the most difficult matter is to 
walk in humility, and to govern one's self. 

* The Augsburg Confession of Faith, in the Lutheran Church, to which Harms 
belonged ; the Catechisms of Heidelberg and Dordrecht for the Reformed Church. 
Since the union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Prussia and most 
other German States, the symbolical books include all these catechisms 

t The union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1818. 361 

CCXXXIX. 

Home, 21th March, 1818. 

There are more here who decidedly like me than who aie opposed 

to me. The Pope and Cardinal Gonsalvi treat me with real cordiality, 
which is of great importance in a place where every thing is decided by 
personal feeling. Thus, if I had available instructions, I should soon be 
able to conclude all the requisite arrangements with the greatest advantage 
to the State and the nation. It weighs heavily upon my mind that it is 
not in my power to accomplish this, but that I am only putting the State 
to a large and useless expense ; with your strict principles you will quite 
enter into my feelings. I can give you proofs that I do not deceive my- 
self 5 my mediation in the case of Geneva has so far prevailed that its 
affairs will be brought to a successful issue, as soon as a preliminary form 
has been gone through by the Genevese government ; and if the "deputies 
of Berne and Lucerne take the course I have advised, as they have ex- 
pressed a wish to do, they also will infallibly obtain their object in spite 
of all the difficulties in the way, which their governments have regarded 
as almost insuperable. The people here are convinced of the perfect hon- 
esty of my intentions, and perceive at the same time that I will not suffer 
myself to be imposed upon. An Italian despises those whom he deceives; 
but when he can not succeed in deceiving a man, he respects him, and, if 
he finds him well-intentioned, conceives an attachment for him after his 
fashion 

Every now and then, I make a fresh attempt to write upon these sub- 
jects,* and then lay down my pen again, when I consider, that although 
there have been instances in which political pamphlets have led to the 
adoption of the measures recommended in them, in a free State, there is 
scarcely any example, under a monarchy, of a minister having carried out 
any measures proposed in a recent pamphlet. However, I know that no 
republican can ever have loved his nation more ardently than I love Prussia. 

A tendency toward reformation is at work in the Catholic Church in 
Germany. A German is here now, who is a sincerely pious man, and is 
leaving Rome in a state of indignation. 1 often converse with him about 
the convulsion that is inevitable, but must proceed from below. He and 
others like him have chosen the motto of St. Augustine as their watchword : 
Unity in essentials, liberty in the rest, and brotherly love. It will be seen 
that this alone can help us. 

CCXL. 

Rome, llth April, 1818. 
Bunsen is a very clear-headed and estimable man. Hardenberg has 
promised me to appoint him successor to Brandis. I am very glad of it : 
on my own account, because I like him ; for his sake and the State's, 
because he has a decided talent for public life, and will distinguish himself. 
Brandis is still undecided as to his plans. It seems likely that he will 
receive an appointment in the university on the Pi/hine, which may proba- 
bly be established next autumn. His father's book upon Magnetism is on 
the way — one hears nothing on such subjects here. An extraordinary 
case of miraculous cure, which happened during the early part of my stay 
here, made a great noise. Perhaps we ought not to attempt to give a 
* Political and ecclesiastical relations in Prussia. 



362 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

philosophical account of such occurrences, hut to content ourselves with 
observing them, and attempting to form a general conjecture as to the 
direction of the forces which produce them. An absolute denial of so 
many instances, still seems to me unwarrantable. 

The religion prevailing here is an abomination to an unprejudiced person. 
A Chaldean, a man of great ability, who had applied to me for money to 
get a Bible printed here in his native language, under the censorship of 
the Propaganda, will probably be banished from Rome. I had hoped to 
obtain from England, America, Prussia, and our King the money required 
for this undertaking, and for the erection of a printing-press with which he 
wanted to print other works at home afterward. This enterprise, to which 
I expected to have been able to contribute, is one of the things with which 
I had often consoled myself in moments of melancholy.* 

Cornelius has made an agreement with the Crown Prince of Bavaria, 
and we shall lose him. I am quite grieved at it. 

The child is fair and flourishing. He is growing very fond of me, and 
begins to have little endearing ways. He kisses my hand without being bid. 

CCXLI. 

Rome, 1st May, 1818. 
The state of the ah is indescribably oppressive. Every body here 
believes that there has been an earthquake somewhere. The sirocco pre- 
vails uninterruptedly ; the sky has been dark and cloudy, the air like a 
furnace, and every one has felt wretched and ill. At sach times you are 
fit for nothing. 

With regard to Harms' s Theses, let us, in the first place, settle the 
points on which we agree with each other and with Harms. In my opin- 
ion, he is not a Protestant Christian, who does not receive the historical 
facts of Christ's earthly life, in their literal acceptation, with all their 
miracles, as equally authentic with any event recorded in history, and 
whose belief in them is not as firm and tranquil as his belief in the latter j 
who has not the most absolute faith in the articles of the Apostles' Creed, 
taken in their grammatical sense ; who does not consider every doctrine 
and every precept of the New Testament as undoubted divine revelation, 
in the sense of the Christians of the first century, who knew nothing of a 
Theopneustia. Moreover, a Christianity after the fashion of the modern 
philosophers and pantheists, without a personal God, without immortality, 
without human individuality, without historical faith, is no Christianity at 
all to me ; though it maybe a very intellectual, very ingenious philosophy. 
I have often said, that I do not know what to do with a metaphysical 
G-od, and that I will have none but the God of the Bible, who is heart to 
neart with us. 

Let him who can, bring the God of metaphysics into harmony with the 
God of the Bible ; and he who can accomplish this, will be authorized to 
write symbolical books that shall be a law to all ages. He who grants 
the absolute impossibility of solving the main problem, which can only be 
approached by asymptotes, will not grieve over the inevitable consequence, 
our possessing no system of religion. Many passages m the Bible admit 
of various interpretations ; are these made a matter of controversy among 
* This Chaldean was afterward banished (along with Dr. Wolff) for having 
accepted assistance from the Bible Society in carrying oat his scheme. 



LETTERS PROM ROME IN 1818. 363 

pious people ? There is a remarkable and noble passage on this point in 
Tertullian, who nevertheless was a true zealot. 

People have aimed at bringing religion into an absolute system in imi- 
tation of the scholastic philosophy, and in behoof of church government. 
In so far as the sense is plain, well and good. But where it is doubtful — 
and that is the very point at issue — who is to decide ? The Catholic 
Church is not left without a decision ; she claims to have a tradition, and 
she asserts an immediate miraculous influence of the Holy Spirit upon 
the decisions of councils and popes. We have seen what this has led to, 
and Luther has saved us from that misery. Luther himself took his stand 
on tradition. He sketched no new outline ; he only cleansed the be- 
smeared picture from what, according to his notion of the original, he 
recognized as defacing additions. Hence sprang, for instance, his doctrine 
of the Eucharist. The Christianity, the faith that was within him, not 
that which stood before him, and was external to him, was the material 
on which he labored. He always, consciously or unconsciously, took his 
stand on tradition. Not till after him, came the Reasons of the Orthodox, 
who wanted to set up a system. In the eyes of these Pharisees, all profound 
feeling, all glowing devotion, was an abomination. 

It has been said with great truth, that the bull Unigenitus led to, and 
is responsible for the overthrow of religion in France ; and he who really 
knows the history of Germany knows the injury which orthodoxy has done 
to the Protestant religion. It is only an indirect consequence of it, that 
its obnoxiousness has occasioned the defection of numbers to the Romish 
Church : for, if you oppose authority by authority, it must be confessed 
that that of the councils is of greater weight than that of a society of 
doctors and pastors; we have always left this objec%>n of the Catholics 
unanswered. 

In the symbolical books, there are doctrines respecting plenary inspiration, 
and the connection of the Old and New Testaments, which can never 
come into force again ; and how much else is contained in them, of which 
the early church knew nothing ! Let any one only try whether the 
standard which I require be a small matter or a great one ; and let no 
one secretly substitute for it. the permission to explain religion into a hu- 
man doctrine, and its historical facts, according to the rules of ordinary 
occurrences ; seeing that I demand precisely the reverse. 

The matter will remain without practical influence on legislative meas- 
ures. It can have none, and the controversy will die away, when people 
have once fairly got to hating each other. Then something else will come 
up. — You speak of the morbid tendency to innovation in our times : I 
abhor and mourn over it with you, but the controversy, of which we have 
been speaking, is in truth one form of it. When the novel part of any 
question has been quite worn threadbare, people turn to the old, which has 
then become new again ; and thus the ball is thrown backward and for- 
ward. It is the same in politics and in literature. How many changes 
of fashions have I not witnessed already, and I may say witnessed without 
changing my own position ! In my youth I beheld the former theological 
"enlightenment" (with disgust, indeed, although from a distance), during 
which every adherent of the old belief was an object of contempt. Oh that 
men would build up ! Nothing can come of constraint and command in 
these matters. Oh that men strove, in simplicity of heart, and in union 



364 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

with those likeminded to themselves, to attain true, fruit-bearing faith, 
piety, and love ! 

Do not fancy me unqualified to give my voice on this subject. I know 
that I am qualified, by possessing a fully adequate knowledge of the history 
of the church, and even of her system, of which I know more perhaps than 
you give me credit for. Here, where it is of importance to guard young 
men against the seductions of the Catholic priests, I have ample induce- 
ment to turn my attention to theology. 

So you think my unfavorable remarks on the Italians too severe. Be 
lieve me, the longer I live here, the more they are confirmed. I have 
become acquainted with one exception (and how should there not be some 
such?), a man of great talent, upright and honorable — the painter and re- 
storer, Palmaroli; and his history and own testimony are again a confirma- 
tion of all I have said. Persecuted with a refinement of malice by envy, 
neglected and slighted by the government, all his efforts have been a 
struggle to produce works of art, and to save magnificent old paintings. 
This man says that his heart expands only in the society of Germans. 

CCXLII. 

TO NICOLOVIUS. 

Rome, 6th June, 1818. 

I will send you by Ranch a pamphlet that has been published 

here, intended expressly for the conversion of the young Germans. If 
Schmieder comes, he must bring Luther's works for me (or send them by 
sea), and the writings against Popery. It can not be expressed how dis- 
gusting these proceedings become the more you see of them. At this mo- 
ment, the proselyters have S ,* one of the ablest young artists, on 

their bait. Dear Nicolovius, the whole life that the artists lead here is 
worse than useless ; it is essentially injurious. They are hi a completely 
false position ; they associate as equals with people of rank — they get a 
distorted view of all the relations of the world, and grow vain and preju- 
diced. For Heaven's sake, do not dream of allowing any of them to stay 
here too long. It is only in a diversified civil society, comprising a variety 
of classes, that an artist can remain a healthy-minded man, unless he be a 
miracle, like Cornelius. That Cornelius is a healthy-minded man, I will 
give you a proof. The evening after Bunsen's child was baptized, we and 
several more were at his house. Bunsen lives in the upper part of the 
Palazzo Cafarelli, and over the Palatine ; as we were standing, after mid- 
night, on the loggia, we saw Jupiter sparkling as if he were looking down 
on his Tarpeian rock. We were drinking healths. I said to Thorwaldsen, 
" Let us drink to old Jupiter !" " With my whole heart," he replied, with 
a voice full of emotion. Some were startled : Cornelius touched our 
glasses and drank it 

CCXLIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 20tk June, 1818. 

The negotiations at Frankfort are spoiling every thing. They 

* Schadow. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1818. 365 

imagine themselves able to make a reformation in the church, because they 
have a hankering after novelty, and never dream that such undertakings 
can only succeed when hearts are lifted up in their behalf, as in Luther's 
time, whereas, they themselves have no feeling about the matter ; and, in- 
deed, no one can have any feeling in connection with the mere ordering of 
external relations." They may perhaps be instruments of good, but then- 
way is as false as Luther's was correct 

I shall write to you again next week. I could not let this day pass 
without a letter. Read the soul of its writer. In those old times too we 
clung to each other. May we be restored to each other in another life ! 

CCXLIV. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Rome, 20th June, 1818. 

Brandis and Bekker are going to Florence the day after to-mor- 
row, and Cornelius will leave at the latest in autumn ; it is uncertain 
whether for Munich or Diisseldorf. 

The proselytizing spirit here is at last causing complete divisions among 
us. No one can have judged these absurd proceedings more leniently in 
insulated cases than myself, or with more kindness and endeavor to enter 
into the weaknesses and peculiar circumstances of individuals. But when 
these men take high ground, and seek right and left to make proselytes ; 
when, not satisfied with kind indulgence, they attempt to make their ignor- 
ance and narrow-mindedness pass current for a higher insight, it does, and 
it ought to make one indignant at heart. A little hand-book, by one Abbe 
Martin, has appeared here, which is full of the most scandalous lies respect- 
ing Luther, and the shallowest defense of Popery, and attacks upon us, and 
it is put into the hands of every young man on his arrival. 

The proof sheets of the Gaius have thrilled me like an electric spark. If 
Goschen is not inclined to the revision at present, he need not be afraid to 
put it off for a time. In a good mood he can do it admirably, and it must 
be done admirably. Be sure to send me all the proof sheets as they are 
printed. What does the postage signify ? It was once intended that I 
should receive a copy in small writing on fine paper ; if there is such a copy 
made, be so good as to give it to Beneke, to be forwarded to me. I should 
much like to append some emendations, not so much for the public, as for 
your consideration and use, if you can turn them to any. 

The mention of the privileges of the Elamen Dialis in this proof sheet, 
has accidentally (as is generally the case) thrown a light in upon my mind. 
Why did he emerge from the paternal authority without capitis diminulio; 
why were his relations in so many ways strange and abnornal ? Because 
his inauguration was a kind of arrogatio, whereby he entered the gens of 
the gods, at any rate became their client. I find the proofs extremely in- 
teresting. They appear to be extracted from the part which has been 
twice written over, and I bow in wonder before the skill of Goschen and 
Hollweg. The double rescription proves the inadequacy of our palaeo- 
graphical definitions. Such a chance is inconceivable, as that the rem- 
nants of the half-effaced MS. should have been left untouched for centuries, 
then taken up, then erased again, and then by accident used for the same 
purpose over again. But unquestionably this was the true state of the 



366 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHE. 

case • the transcriber began to write the Epistles of St. Jerome in large 
uncial characters ; it struck him afterward that this would make the book 
too cumbrous, so he erased what he had done and wrote in italics. Or 
perhaps the calligrapher who could write the uncial characters died, or re- 
moved, so that they were obliged to take another. The character in the 
codex of the Gaius is the base of the Anglo-Saxon ; consequently this was 
in use so early as the seventh century. I much wish this opportunity may 
be embraced to give a brief elucidation of the affinity of these characters. . . . 

What do you say to the Bavarian constitution ? what a mauvaise plai- 
santerie effrontee ! Particularly the law on the freedom of the press. That 
on ecclesiastical relations is sensible and praiseworthy; but how does it 
agree with the Concordat ? 

I wish there were any form in which I could write about politics ; and 
that we were not so certain that to print any opinions would be in itself a 
reason for the adoption of contrary measures. The government order re- 
specting Coblentz has pained me to the heart. Gorres' pamphlet is the 
best thing of the kind that I have read from his pen, and much better than 
we could have expected.* It shows a capacity for sound views. If I were 
in Berlin, I would write what alone is true, and no one should be able to 
take exception to it. There, too, I could write the history of the moral and 
intellectual changes of our nation since the Thirty Years' War, the key to 
all else ; here, naturally, I can write nothing. 

You will receive through Uauch the copy of Ulpian that has been 

collated by Brandis. There has been scarcely any thing to alter in it. 

CCXLV. 

TO JACOBI. 

26^ June, 1818. 

Eoth's letter, (rich in cheering news of you), and your own, to both of 
which I intend this as an answer, found me recovering from a severe illness, 
a state such as you know and have described ; one which comes near to a 
rejuvenescence, and, like youth, opens the whole soul to all that speaks to 
the heart and the intellect. 

The spring began here a day earlier than Pliny has fixed for its 

commencement, namely on the 6th of February ; the air was soft and re- 
freshing, but there were no leaves nor singing birds. This was followed by 
cold, and heavy showers, and now all at once it is as hot as in the dog-days. 
Even in the early morning, you have scarcely any sense of coolness in rooms 
where the windows have been open all night. Still, every thing is bearable 
when the sirocco does not blow. But, in April, there were days when we 
all, Gretchen, Brandis, Bekker, and myself, lay half dead each in our own 

* Gorres, wbo was at tbis time decidedly liberal in his views, and edited the 
" Rheinische Merkur" with great ability, presented an address, on occasion of the 
visit of Hardenberg to Coblentz in the spring of 1818, praying for various political 
reforms, which was followed by other addresses of the same nature from Mayence, 
Treves, &c. Hardenberg held out hopes of their wishes being attended to; but 
the King was highly incensed that the people should take upon themselves to 
dictate the measures necessary to be adopted, instead of waiting to see what re- 
forms he thought fit to grant them ; and Gorres, who had taken the lead in the 
matter, found it necessary to retire to Frankfort. Several other expressions will 
be found in the following letters of Niebuhr referring to these proceedings. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1818. 367 

room. It can not have been so in ancient times, or it would not have been 
an honor to the Romans to have overlooked that the habitable world begf,n 
with the Alps. 

About the Italians you will have heard R.'s* testimony, and we Protest- 
ants can leave it to him to paint the clergy and the state of religion in this 
country. In fact, we are all cold and dead compared to his indignation. 
His society has been a great pleasure to us all, even to our reserved friend 
Eekker, who in general turns pale at the very thought of Popery, and finds 
me far too indulgent. With an enthusiast so full of heart as R., you can 
get on; between such a luxuriance of fancy, and the unshackled reason, 
there is much such an analogy as subsists between science and art ; while, 
on the contrary, the slavish subjection to the Church is ghastly death. The 
most superficial prophet of so-called enlightenment can not have a more 
.sincere aversion to enthusiasm than the Roman priesthood ; and, in fact, 
their superstition bears no trace of it. Little as the admirers of Italy care 
for my words, I know that I am perfectly correct hi saying, that even among 
the laity you can not discover a vestige of piety. The life of the Italian is 
little more than an animal one, and he is not much better than an ape 
endowed with speech. There is nowhere a spark of originality or truthful- 
ness. Slavery and misery have even extinguished all acute susceptibility 
to sensual enjoyments, and there is, I am sure, no people on the face of the 
earth more thoroughly ennuye, and oppressed with a sense of their own ex- 
istence, than the Ptomans. 

Their whole life is a vegetation, and when we who live here, recall the 
apologies made by a partiality which even excuses their indolence, it is im- 
possible to repress a feeling of indignation. While whole families, not to 
speak of the servants, sleep round the charcoal pans in winter, and often 
get suffocated out of pure idleness, the nobles carry on conversazioni which 
are not much better, and in which, besides, most are neither speakers nor 
listeners. The universal knavishness and love of pilfering are also the effect 
of laziness ; people must eat and cover themselves ; and this must be made 
possible without interruption to then: laziness. 

The present government have undertaken the task of introducing tolerable 
civil security by police, in the midst of ever-increasing wickedness and de- 
gradation — a system of constraint and terror that may impose fetters upon 
the wild passions of the animal man. 

They never so much as think of securing at least his physical comfort ; he 
may sink into deeper and deeper misery, but he shall fear blows and the 
galleys more than he cares for his own instincts. Surrounded by an omni- 
present espionage of police, conscious how he himself would be ready to 
accuse and betray any other man for a certain reward, Dread shall be his 
supreme deity. In the metropolis, this has succeeded to astonishment, and 
crimes of violence upon the person are rarer than in other capitals. The 
cavaletto, or flogging machine, is nearly permanent, and during the carnival 
literally so. The police regulations for the carnival, for the theatres which 
are open then, and for all public festivities, sound revolting, and they are 
carried into execution. There is no criminal code at all, but the punish- 
ments are quite arbitrary. One of the most scandalous crimes is punished 
very mildly, why ? 

* Bingseis, a physician who had accompanied the Crown Prince of Bavaria to 
Eome, and was a zealous and pious Catholic. 



368 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

The execrable Cardinal Ruffo* is dead, and an historical character, who 
iainot inferior to any commissioner of the Convention, relates, chuckling 
with delight, what his Calabrians did with the towns, and even the con- 
vents, that had been Jacobinical. Even the murder of a wife is very leniently 
punished. I have extracted the casus in terminis from the lists of sentences, 
because no one will believe what I say on these points. The effect of this 
severity, however, is seen in the absolute lifelessness of the common people. 
The nobles, who have nothing to fear, are equally apathetic from their utter 
inaction, and the gratification to satiety of the lowest desires. 

Dear Jacobi, I could not venture to say openly to our German patriots, 
what I do not hesitate to write to my government, that the overthrow of 
Bonaparte's rule has been the greatest calamity to Rome, and the restora- 
tion of the old government the greatest sin against the nation. They could 
no longer proceed in their old careless routine ; they were forced either to 
adopt wiser or more ruinous measures, and the former course was impossible. 

God knows whither their present course is tending, since there is no 
prospect of reform and alleviation. Bid not Woldemar,t who lived in a 
golden age compared to the present, declare that he knew not how a change 
was to come without a deluge or a miracle. The Jeremiades on the misery 
of Rome under Bonaparte are the stupid twaddle of ignorant artists. To 
extirpate priestcraft, such as it was and is, was a necessary amputation, 
and, on the whole, it was performed — my friends may cry out against me 
as they will — with discretion, forbearance, and moderation ; the people were 
employed and cared for. The population of the city was suddenly dimin- 
ished, but those who remained would soon have found themselves much 
better off, and all things would have been brought into a natural course. 
The number of births increased rapidly, the priests were no longer able to 
command or permit abortion ; the number of deaths diminished incredibly. 
The conscription was disliked, but was wholesome for the people ; a French 
regiment was a school of honor and morality to an Italian, as much as it is 
of corruption to a German. Some life was awakened among the higher 
classes ; they began to take some interest in things, and very much, perhaps 
all that is possible, would be gained for the Romans if they were to recover 
animation. There were a pretty good number of criminals executed without 
the attendance of a priest, consequently condemned to eternal damnation : 
while now, in the opinion of the common people, every criminal who is ex- 
ecuted goes fully absolved into heaven. The officials set the Romans a pat- 
tern of liberality and conscientiousness, and the fournisscurs were models 
of strict integrity and humanity, to the managers of hospitals. All this 
you will not misunderstand. 

It must be confessed that fiscal avarice, and the idolatry of so-called 
property, stood in the way of a radical reform. It would have been neces- 
sary to compel the great nobles to give heritable leases on their estates, and 
to divide ,the ecclesiastical property viritim ; and this indeed would never 
have been done. The imposts are heavier now than in 1813. 

What it must be, to an honorable and public-spirited man, to live 
among such a people, I leave you to imagine. It is an utterly false idea 
to suppose that any relics of antiquity have been preserved in manners, 
customs, &c. ; in the country there may be some isolated instances of the 

He had been the leader of the counter-revolution in Naples, 
t Woldemar was the title of a novel written many years previously by Jacobi. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1818. 369 

kind ; but you can not penetrate into the interior on account of the robbers. 
To you I may venture to say, without disparagement to my interest hi the 
works of our German artists, that I am sickened of art as I should be of 
sweetmeats instead of bread. But there is no one here, particularly since 
Brandis and Bekker have left, with whom I can converse upon the subjects 
that lie nearest to my heart, mutually giving and receiving information. 
Colonel Fischer, one of the deputies from Berne, made a transient excep- 
tion, which was invaluable to me. Still I could, if need be. do without 
learned conversations ; but to have no one with whom I can hold a rational 
conversation upon the affairs which concern mankind in general, upon the 
events occurring in England, Germany, and France, is positive death. 
Whether the Disputa, or the Heliodor, be the more perfectly painted, &c, 
&c, leaves me not only indifferent, but in the long run becomes insupport- 
ably tedious. Besides, it is not improving to be always limited to talking 
on subjects that you understand imperfectly, and on which you are always 
obliged to take a very inferior position to the persons with whom you con- 
verse, without any fault of your own. 

However, this is not the only evil in our German society. Our young 
artists are not uncontaminated by their contemporaries ; without learning, 
without reflection, they are extremely dogmatical, and, on all points, quite 
look down on those who are not of their confraternity. Some who are 
here exhibit astonishingly fine talents, and no one perhaps is more zealous 
than myself in furthering then development. Truly a new day has dawned 
upon art, and Goethe has sinned greatly in denying the fact. To speak 
without a ridiculous modesty, my mission, in other respects so useless, has 
in this probably been of most essential service. Your Crown Prince may 
do more ; but his stay here has so far done more harm than good. He has 
made the young men arrogant, and turned their heads ; their prudent friend 
no longer satisfies them, because he does not worship them, and places art, 
in the usual narrow sense of the word, far below wisdom, and that art of 
which it is the embodiment 

Your countryman Cornelius, who will bring you a letter in a few months, 
makes a glorious exception among our artists : he is the Goethe of the 
painters, and has in every respect an open and powerful intellect, free from 
all limitation. 

Your Constitution is an important event. It will give you an idea of 
Rome, when I tell you that no one has any thing to say about it ; the 
name of a constitution is enough for the Germans, and more especially the 
freedom of the press. I do not ask for a perfectly unconditional freedom of 
the press, but where such a law exists I would still avail myself of the prof- 
fered advantage of the censorship for my security. This law appears to me 
the least good of the whole series, and that on religious institutions the best. 

In your Constitution it is very remarkable what trouble has been taken 
to find business for the Estates to perform. They are only auditors of ac- 
counts with greater solemnity. Meanwhile, I congratulate you sincerely ; 
though I would rather have had something different and better. For as I 
adhere to the principles of Moser and Fievee,* I care little for a worshipful 
assemblee legislative, unless it be — but that would lead me too far. 

* This refers to their advocacy of communal and municipal freedom. Fievee's 
letters on the history of the French Legislative Assembly, in 1815 and 1816, had 
just come out. In his general principles, Fievee trod in the footsteps of Turgot. 



370 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

It frets me to be out of Germany, and therefore unable to say any thing 
about important national questions, on which Gorres, to my astonishment, 
has come pretty near the truth. In this long letter, I will not enlarge upon 
the various details of your elective forms, in which I am sorry not to see 
all the former imperial towns represented separately, as is the case with 
the mediatized princes. On the whole, however, every amelioration gives 
me pleasure, even if it is imperfect. 

Farewell, dear friend. Give our kindest remembrance to Roth and your 
sisters. Gretchen and I kiss your fatherly hand. 

CCXLVI. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Rome, 1st September, 1818. 

I must have already told you more than once, dearest Savigny, that 
your letters operate upon me like blood upon spectres, whom it nourishes. 
The time and space, that separate me from a better life, disappear for the 
moment ; images and recollections rise up with vividness, and thoughts, 
which there has been nothing in the dead vacuum of Hades to excite, form 
themselves once more into shape. This simile is more elegant, and, at all 
events, more worthy of your letter than another, which has perhaps still 
more truth with regard to myself. I might compare myself to a dead frog, 
in which movements that bear the resemblance of life are produced by the 
touch of metal. 

Be that as it may, your letters instantly excite in me a desire to answer 
them, and when I received, about three weeks ago, yours of the end of 
July, I replied to it immediately ; but the intense heat which had pre- 
vailed almost without intermission for nearly two months, and had been 
rendered unusually intolerable by a constant sirocco, had had such a de- 
pressing effect upon me, that I did not like to send you my grumbling epis- 
tle, and I became still less willing to do so, after it had once been laid 
aside that it might be replaced by another. This latter was never written, 
owing to very sad circumstances. You know already that Gretchen has 

been confined again probably, also, that the child was very delicate. 

Added to this, the summer months are very trying here for children. We 
know the style of the medical treatment at Rome. The child would cer- 
tainly have been lost, had not a young physician from Berlin been here, 
and adopted reasonable measures. The infant has certainly now made 
some progress toward recovery, but is still far from well, and its possession 
is an extremely precarious blessing. 

Gretchen' s health has received a severe shock, owing to the anxiety from 
which she has scarcely been free for a day since the birth of the child, and 
her unspeakable anguish since it became seriously ill 

I was not made ill by the excessive heat, because I constantly vegetated 
in-doors : but I was very much exhausted, and the sudden change of tern 
perature brought on an attack of dysentery, which has been removed, how 
ever, by instant attention. Marcus alone has stood the heat with unabated 
vigor, and never felt the change of weather in the least. He is such a 
happy, sprightly child ; always full of mirth and laughter. Probably his 
overflowing health is the reason that his teeth are developed so slowly. 
His making no attempt to speak yet, may partly result from his being able 



LETTERS FROM HOME IN 1818. 371 

to make himself understood about every thing, partly from the mixture of 
the two languages which he hears buzzing about him. Every body loves 
him, from the women, to an old Franciscan of Ragusa, who often pays us 
a friendly visit ; and his nurse, who has no very warm attachment to her 
own children, tells her fellow-servants that she weeps when she thinks 
how soon she shall have to leave him. The happy time is now not far 
distant, when he will be able to listen to stories ; and this will make Rome 
and my life here tolerable to me, even if I should be compelled to renounce 
entirely a wider sphere of action. The more disordered the state of the 
world, the more needful is education; in an age that is growing old and 
decrepit, a simple world of ideas must be created for the child, in which 
its mind may grow up strong and unclouded. A clear understanding can 
least of all be dispensed with, when the confusion of ideas and half-truths 
is greatest ; it is exactly at such a time, that principles, which have been 
early implanted and carefully watched over, so as to gain all the strength 
of a prejudice, confer extraordinary power, both over the world within and 
that without. He who begins his course thus armed, fights with a weap- 
on which is wanting to those around him. Moreover, the mass of things 
to be learnt, which oppresses and confuses the brain when you have no 
guidance, may be wonderfully simplified by a teacher, and yet the child 
may be fed on marrow instead of dry bones. It will be a great blessing 
for the child, if the King's promise is fulfilled, that a chaplain to the em- 
bassy here should be appointed 

The difficulty of governing in these times is immense. Superficial opin- 
ions have diffused themselves on all sides, and acquired authority. No 
change in the forms can give birth to a higher wisdom, the rarity and im- 
potence of which is the worst disease of our age. In the rest of Germany, 
things are no better, and in most parts still worse than in Prussia, though 
the malice of our enemies has the craft to avert censure from themselves 
and direct it on us. The Bavarian constitution is a genuine child of the 
age ; hence it will be extolled far and wide. 

The Austrian administration of finance has been unvailed to the initiated, 
by the invaluable documentary evidence set forth by its panegyrists. 

As I have often told you, I can execute no learned work here. Neither 
have I been able to avail myself of the Library this winter, because the 
only two librarians who were obliging and knew where books were to be 
found, have been occupied in replacing books, that had been collected and 
ranged in new mahogany cases with splendid plate-glass fronts, for a few 
hours, by express command, that the Pope might have the satisfaction of 
surveying them. Then, too, I did not begin to keep a carriage till March, 
and 1 live about two miles from the Library. Now Mai is coming here, 
and then every thing of the kind is out of the question 

Do you know that I have some prospect of becoming a citoyen de 
Geneve ? And that I have earned this title by my services ? If I do, I 
must certainly write something one of these days with all my titles and 
dignities after my name. We have had a Swiss embassy here, whose 
intellectual head, Colonel Fischer of Berne, was one of the most sagacious, 
noble-minded and estimable men whom I know. He and I became great 
friends, and his departure pained me as if we had lived together for years. 
I find that I have still got a frightful quantity to tell you, and have neither 
space nor time left. To-morrow (I am ending this on the 4th), we are 



372 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

going to Genzano, where we shall live under the same roof with Madame 
von Schlegel. Curious ! Our little one is rather better ; the country air 
will very likely benefit her and her mother. What a pity it is that we 
can scarcely stir beyond the walls of the towns for fear of the banditti ! 
I mean to observe the mode of husbandry there. The peasants are not so 
bad, if the poor creatures had but a little property. But the barons and 
the clergy have swallowed up every thing: so late as 1590, the inhabit- 
ants of Aricia were lords of a great number of small estates in the valley 
(though the Savelli had already got many of them into their own hands 
by confiscation) ; at that time there came a dreadful famine, and these 
barons took every thing the people had, in exchange for corn, which they 
sold to them at the rate of forty piastres for the rubbio, which in ordinary 
years now costs ten. There's a sacred right of property for you ! The 
peasant women, whom we know most of, are honest people and capable 
of attachment ; only their avarice must be gratified, which, however, 
happily is possible. But the higher classes, the clergy, the so-called citi- 
zens — no, dear Savigny, you can form no idea of such a pack of vagabonds. 
Farewell ! Our hearty love to you and your wife. 

Yours, Niebuhr. 
CCXLVII. 
TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 1st September, 1818. 

We are going into the country to-morrow for a month, to Genzano, a 
very pleasant place above the beautiful Lake of Nemi, where the shade 
and fine trees make the country very charming to us Germans, when we 
compare it to the bare desert about Rome 

It is a subject of great satisfaction to me, that the King has acceded to 
my proposal that a chaplain to the embassy should be appointed, and that 
the choice will most likely fall on a very excellent young clergyman from 
Saxony, a great friend of K. Boeder's. According to the testimony of 
Professor Heubner, he must be all that one could wish in a teacher of re- 
ligion for our child. It is my most ardent wish that Marcus may be sin- 
cerely and earnestly pious. I can not inspire him with this piety ; but I 
can and will support the clergyman. His heart shall be raised to God as 
soon as he is capable of a sentiment ; and his childish feelings shall be ex- 
pressed in prayers and hymns ; all the religious practices that have fallen 
into disuse in our age, shall be a necessity and a law to him. 

Hemsterhuis says, that, even as a golden age subsisted in the uncon- 
scious innocent contentedness of man, favored by nature like a child by a 
mother, so must the race by manifold wanderings arrive at a state of clear 
understanding, in which man will cultivate and govern the desert for him- 
self. I by no means share in this dream, but for the individual it is pos- 
sible, as regards the understanding and intellect, if instruction is brought 
to the aid of natural talent. That intensity of conviction and of feeling 
on which all else depends, may be attained by cultivation. But whether 
a strong-minded and clear-thinking man may not find himself continually 
more and more a stranger and an outcast among his contemporaries, is 
another question ; for the age on the whole is declining intellectually. 

You know, perhaps, that Savigny and I have taken up the idea of the 
continuance of the Roman municipal institutions under the barbarians ; I 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1819. 373 

have definitively discovered their transition into the republican institutions 
of the middle ages, and am certain that I have fovmd the key which will 
enable us to understand the old German civil liberty and equality. 

In the country, I shall occupy myself with agriculture, in order fully to 
understand that of the Romans. I shall also try how far it is possible to 
get toward the old Latin cities in the opposite range of hills ; i. e. if the 
robbers are not too near; for, though less numerous, they are worse than 
ever. Their chief is as if maddened, since his whole family has been mur- 
dered. Now, he murders every one he can get hold of, and the govern- 
ment has set a price upon his head, and promised a pardon to any one 
who may deliver him up, in the hope of seducing some one of his comrades 
to do so. Every thing that occurs betokens a horrible degeneracy of the 
whole nation. 

CCXLVIII. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Rome, 1st October, 1818. 

We have already returned to town, dear Savigny, contented with having, 
by our visit to the country, avoided the pestilence of September, which, this 
year, has certainly been sufficiently antique ha its character. It is a very 
expensive affair to stay in the country during October ; for all who have 
contrived to remain in Rome during the unhealthy months, when you are 
condemned to utter idleness by the heat and the weight of the air, stream 
out into the country as soon as the atmosphere begins to cool, and the 
vegetation to revive. By this time, it often begins to be very cold among 
the hills, but in Rome it is a mild after-summer ; while through the sum- 
mer, the air on the mountains is temperate and elastic. It is not even the 
vintage which attracts the people ; to their taste, the theatre in Rome is 
more interesting. But such is, once for all, the established usage, and when 
a number of people are thus crowded together in small places, equipages 
and dress attract more attention. In spite of the threatening cold, I left 
Genzano with reluctance. It afforded me a thousand times more enjoy- 
ment than the oppressive city. • I should have liked extremely to see the 
vintage, and the wine-pressing, but it was too expensive for us, after all 
the disbursements of the summer 

It is no easy task to German parents to bring up children here ; you must 
have them almost constantly with you, for it were better to see them dead 
than that they should grow up like the people around them. No one can 
fully appreciate this without personal experience, and I beg you will not 
shake your head at what I say. If you were only here a week, as a resi- 
dent, and as the father of a family, you would see what is the state of a 
people without reason and conscience, in whom all selfish impulses are let 
loose. The only difference is, whether these impulses are kindly or malig- 
nant, and whether they can be brought into some degree of equilibrium and 
harmony among themselves. You see here what the human being becomes 
under the combined influences of a wretched superstition, and utter inca- 
pacity for piety ; in Naples, by all accounts, matters are still worse, because 
the people are by nature more passionate and more malignant. The char- 
acter of the passions there, and what you see of them here, is as unpoet- 
ical as possible, they rise to savage fury in the twinkling of an eye. Con- 
fession, and absolution, and indulgences may work well among a conscien 



374 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

tious and deep-hearted people like the Tyrolese. Here, they open the door 
to utter abasement. All this seems the strangest to me, when one looks 
back to the old Romans, who were governed by a religion of the strictest 
veracity, fidelity, and honesty. If it should ever be in my power to con- 
tinue my History, I shall venture to demonstrate how this religion, which 
was something quite different from Stoicism, was the foundation on which 
the greatness of the old republican time was reared, and how the whole 
life of the constitution depended on it. It was not the splendid balance dcs 
pouvoirs, but that the balance was suspended among a virtuous people. 

Your explanation of the unfriendly feeling toward us, which is so 

prevalent, and which I perceive only too distinctly among the young Ger- 
mans in Rome, is, to a certain extent, incontestably correct. But you must 
also take other causes into the account, to which your benevolence will 
hardly attach sufficient importance, but which nevertheless exist. In small 
States it is not so much & fear of the mightier State belonging to the same 
nation, as wounded vanity. Ever since he lost his simple greatness of 
character, the German has been by nature fond of slander and detraction, 
by no means candid, and still less loving. For some time after our war of 
liberation, they were forced to be silent, and respect us : but respect is, to a 
German, a terribly oppressive feeling. I think it possible that, at that time, 
great men might have founded an enduring respect for us. Let us remem- 
ber how Athens saved the liberties of Greece in the Persian war, and that 
Thebes, &c, betrayed her. The moral condition of Athens was not much 
more praiseworthy than that of the other States ; still we know now, after 
the lapse of two thousand years, that Athens had a very different intrinsic 
value from them, notwithstanding the Cleons and Hyperboluses. But envy 
excited hatred and ingratitude toward Athens, and the cowards and trait- 
ors were the genuine Greeks. 

CCXLIX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 7th November, 1818. 

We have had a busy season of court festivities, which I have 

been obliged to attend — a wearisome kind of life to me. Still there were 
occasionally some beautiful spectacles, and if the aspect of political affairs 
were different, one could feel some amusement as a looker-on at such a 
festival, in spite of its emptiness. But when the people are wasting away 
with famine, when the money that is squandered is taken from the neces- 
sitous, when dissatisfaction or apathy reign every where, you feel inde- 
scribably melancholy at an entertainment, where you do not even see a 
single happy face. 

One plague of the winter is the ever-increasing swarm of travelers of 
rank. I have a number of them on my hands just now. 

The proselytizing tract of the French ecclesiastic is not in the book 
shops. If I can get you one copy you will have enough of it ; for it will 
not bear a second reading ; it is a shallow thing. I think you are correct 
in saying that Stolberg's life of St. Vincent would better serve the purpose 
of these proselytizers, because in that, words and example speak to the 
heart ; for truly not even an uninstructed man will allow himself to be 
caught by controversial writings ; and if Seeker's work against Catholicism 
be put into his hands, he has not the shadow of an excuse. But if such a 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1819. 375 

beautiful picture, which, though a true representation of the individual, is 
completely defective as applied to the class, had an undue influence on an 
ardent mind, you ought to refer such an one to the biographies of pious 
Protestants — of Franke, Paul Gerhard, and so many others, who are cer- 
tainly not inferior, in point of self-sacrifice, energy, and warmth, to those 
isolated instances of saints with human feelings in the Romish Church. 
There is one Italian whom I should like you to know, Paul Sarpi, who, 
while acting as a lay-brother in a monastery, was a genuine Protestant. 
You will easily be able to procure an account of him. One appeared as a 
pamphlet about ten years ago, by Ferdinand Delbriick, and is said to be 
very well written. I have read an Italian life of him lately, written by a 
Venetian, his contemporary. If any one wishes to know how the Papists be- 
have, when they want to disseminate opinions respecting those who think 
differently from themselves, let him read in this book the reports spread by 
the Court of Rome about the death of this saint, and the infamous lies 
about Luther in Bellarmine's Catechism. 



1819. 

Niebuhil had now been more than two years in Rome, yet the 
instructions, that were to form the basis of his negotiations with 
the Papal Court, were still delayed. He was further annoyed by 
rumors — which, however, were not realized — that the Prussian 
government intended to associate Bartholdy, the consul at Florence, 
with him in the negotiation. Niebuhr was decided to take Ins 
leave should tins prove to be the case. 

In this, and the following years of his residence in Rome, 
Niebuhr passed the months of May, September, and October, at 
Tivoli or Albano. His principal literary production this year was 
an Essay on the Historical Advantages to be derived from the 
Armenian Version of the Chronicle of Eusebius, occasioned by the 
recent publication of the Armenian version, discovered in the con- 
vent of St. Lazarus, at Venice, and edited under the auspices of 
Mai. This Essay was written for the Academy of Sciences in 
Berlin. He also edited the Fragments of Livy, which he had only 
delayed so long because he did not choose to submit his work to 
the censorship of a Dominican, from the necessity of which his 
high position did not exempt him, while it would have given 
offense in Rome to have published it elsewhere. He now waived 
this objection, because he feared that Mai who was just appointed 
librarian at the Vatican, would publish a bad edition of them, if 
not forestalled by a better. They appeared in the spring of 1820. 



376 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

In July, partial instructions at length arrived, but the general 
ones were still kept back, which vexed him all the more as he 
was now beginning seriously to think of returning to Germany, on 
account of his wife's ill health, and extreme dislike to Italy. For 
his own part, his health had been better, after the first year, than 
at any former period of his hife. 

Letters written in 1819. 

CCL. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, \Uk April, 1819. 
You are decidedly against Gretchen's traveling without me, and con- 
sider such a separation as a voluntary renunciation and slighting of the 
nearest relationships. I should think it as wrong as you do, unless it were 
justified hy the weightiest reasons, and you may well conceive that I could 
not suffer Gretchen and the children to travel alone, without the greatest, 
anxiety, or be separated from them without a great sacrifice on my part. 
But her state of health is not only very unsatisfactory in general ; she is 
unquestionably threatened with amaurosis. In fact, the effects of this cli- 
mate on a nervous constitution are something of which you can form no idea 
out of Italy, and of which a person utterly ignorant of medicine, who has 
personally seen and observed them, has a much clearer comprehension than 
the greatest physician can have who has never visited Italy. Would the 
father of our Brandis ever have believed that traveling in the mountains 
could be beneficial to his son ? And again, others who also are suffering 
from chest disorders, would be destroyed by living at the height of 600 feet 
above the sea; while others die in a few weeks in the sea air of Naples, 
to which they have been ordered by German and English physicians, to 
keep off consumption. The physician who accompanies Prince Metternich 
on his travels, a very clear-headed and well-informed man, finds himself 
quite at sea in all the cases that come under his notice here. The number 
of Germans who suffer from mental disorders in Rome, is at least from 
ten to twenty times greater than in Germany among persons of the same 
rank, and occupied by the same classes of ideas. In one house, which is 
always let to Germans, five occupants in succession have become insane with- 
in the last sixteen years. In another country how can you form the slightest 
conception of the effects of the smells, or the sirocco ? It is utterly im- 
possible ; and therefore you are unable to estimate the effect of this climate 
upon a delicate constitution, from your knowledge of that constitution in 
your own country ; hence it is that natives and foreigners unite in urging a 
removal from Italy, as soon as a foreigner finds his health declining. For 
my own part, I have ransomed my health with a year of suffering, and now 
I should never think of changing my residence on my own account; only I 
find, as all others do without exception, that one can get through incom- 
parably less work here than in Germany. 

16th. I laid my sheets aside yesterday to dress for one of the court parties 
that are taking place almost daily here just now. You can easily conceive 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1819. 37? 

with what heart I can be there, when I leave my invalid in a solitude 
which she can not enliven by any employment, but can only brood over 
her own sad thoughts and fears. 

I shudder at wha£ we see and hear of things in Germany. Kotzebue's 
murder, what an utterly insane act ! Is the perception of what is right and 
wrong, lawful a»d atrocious, really so perverted in Germany, that voices can 
be raised in defense of such a deed ? And even putting that aside, can the 
men be blind to the consequences of a deed so pregnant with calamity ? 
Are they become so short-sighted? Can not they foresee the impression 
that it will produce on the governments ? Yet it is almost impossible to 
say this to the deluded men without being regarded as a blockhead, and 
proscribed. 

CCLI. 

Tivoli, 21s£ May, 1819. 

There would be many advantages in passing the summer here ; 

but Gretchen can not get baths ; the walks (with the most glorious pros- 
pects) are without shade ; and I should be obliged to leave her alone some 
days in every week, which would be very dull for her, as she can employ 
nerself so little. 

Bernstorf gives me a furlough of six or eight weeks. His letter is very 
friendly. 

The inhabitants of Tivoli are the most most arrant beggars on the face 
of the earth. They beg with laughing faces, attack the stranger, and abuse 
him violently if he gives them nothing. I have made the acquaintance of 
the richest man in the place ; he is a usurer and a miser. The priests 
here seem to be certainly not better than the rest. I have met with one 
man, however, who is a fresh proof that the Italians might be raised, if they 
could be made small proprietors. He is a yeoman, who inherited from his 
father a house, a vineyard, and an olive-garden, but with debts far exceed- 
ing the market-price of his possessions ; for small estates fetch such low 
prices, that the produce of a single year will often reach the half, or more, 
of the market-price; the land requires so much labor, that he who culti- 
vates it by hired laborers can scarcely make both ends meet, in spite of the 
extraordinary proportion which the prices of products bear to the price of 
land here. 

This honest man has so far extricated himself, by extraordinary industry 
and energy, that he has now only a few hundred dollars still owing of his 
debts, and can look forward to the time when he shall have worked them 
all off. "When I had earned a hundred dollars by the harvest," said he, 
" I was obliged to give up eighty, and wept with my children." He mort- 
gaged his olive-garden for ten years to a usurer, who takes the whole pro- 
duce, which, in good years, is equal to the capital lent, and receives besides 
ten per cent., which the poor fellow'has to get from his other pieces of land. 
What a state of society ! And believe me, that, at most, I do not know 
more than one Pboman who would be shocked at such facts as these. If 
the man can not pay the two hundred dollars next year, his vineyard will 
be forfeited. If it is at all within my power 1 shall lend him the money. 
Wherever you find hereditary farmers, or small proprietors, there you also 
find industry and honesty. I believe that a man who would employ a 
large fortune in establishing small freeholds, might put an end to robbery in 



378 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the mountain districts. The Italians are still, as in the time of the Romans, 
adapted simply and solely for agriculture. They are as little a poetical 
nation as the old Romans were ; on the contrary, they are prosaic, and 
not even lively, as the Germans are in some districts. No nation can be 
less musical ; they have only a ritornel melody, which is most unpleasant, 
and no national songs at all. The wisdom of the old Romans is strikingly 
displayed, among other things, with respect to the size of the separate 
estates, which was determined by law. Seven jugers are amply sufficient 
to feed and clothe a large family. On this extent they can perform all the 
tillage themselves, of which much more is needed than with us. The 
corn requires weeding. This work occupies the whole year, and there is 
no winter month when there is nothing to do in the fields. A larger estate 
is no benefit to an Italian, and he who lets his piece of land, and lives 
without work is a lost man, as well as the poor fellow who can get no 
work. The mere day-laborer is also in a pitiable condition, and this class 
are, for the most part, a bad set; but it is from destitution. The great 
farmers hire them by the job, and, in order to save a little, many of them 
work themselves to death : in the summer, at least, the hospitals are al- 
ways crowded with them. The rich learn nothing, and take no interest 
in any thing. There is no, strictly speaking, burgher class at all ; and 
nothing is rarer than to find artisans who understand their trade and are 
industrious. The priests are generally very poor and incredibly wicked. 
In Rome there are parish priests who go about begging. The monks are 
certainly nearly all good for nothing, though I know one very estimable 
Franciscan. Learning and literature are at a lower ebb than perhaps in 
any other country. The devotion is merely external, and this has very 
much diminished. I have been assured by Italians themselves that the 
younger people have scarcely any faith at all. From the greatest to the 
least, all unite in hating and despising the government ; but at Rome there 
are none, or very few, who cling, as so many in the other parts of Italy 
do, to the very pardonable chimera of the unity of Italy. I was conversing 
here with an intelligent landowner about the city and the inhabitants, and 
he drew a frightful picture of one after another of the most influential men, 
which had, however, quite an air of truth. As he had previously been 
blaming the government — unhappily with only too much justice — I asked 
him how any good could be done then, if those who would come into power 
on the fall of the priestly domination were so bad ? He acknowledged 
that no amelioration at all could be anticipated. The small holdings are 
swallowed up year by year, and thus the number of vagabonds in the 
towns is constantly increasing. 

If one could but penetrate further into the retreats of the agricultural 
population ! It is only among them that any addition to our knowledge 
of antiquity could be obtained. 

Bunsen and his wife have been with us about ten days. He and I 
have been visiting ruins that no stranger has ever visited before, and 
which are very remarkable. 

CCLII. 

TO NICOLOVIUS. 

Rome, 3d July, 1819. 

From Schmeider's official letter and mine, you will see, dear Nicolovius, 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1819. 379 

that our evangelical worship has been happily commenced, and truly " in 
God's name." The 27th of June will be a notable day henceforward in 
church history ; for what Protestant worship there had been in Rome 
previously, was destitute of all spiritual power. 

That ours will prosper under such an excellent clergyman is certain. I 
think I have always known what a genuine pastor must be, who should 
in our days raise up a church, and infuse into her a new life, but I had 
never seen such a one till we became acquainted with Schmieder. I can 
not tell you how we all love and reverence him. 

It will not occasion offense ; I spoke to the Pope after the first Sunday, 
when he had, no doubt, been informed of all that passed, and he was as 
friendly as ever ; I had a favor to request for a friend of mine from the 
Secretary of State, but he declined saying any thing to the Pope about it, 
and told me that I had better apply to him myself, he would certainly not 
refuse me ; and he did not. 

The pretraille do, indeed, cavil much at our burial-ground. The most 
perplexing circumstance to us will be, if apostates should want to return 
to us ; one has announced his intention of doing so already ; you may 
rely upon it that we shall act with due forethought and circumspection. 

I only wish that Schmieder had his wife with him. As he will receive 
200 dollars increase of salary, and the congregation can do something 
for him, she must come. He is so made to be happy and to confer hap- 
piness, that he ought not to be subjected to this cruel separation. We 
shall do what we can toward the expenses of traveling and removal ; as 
I shall now remain here till next March, I shall be able to spare something 
toward it. But the 200 hundred dollars may be regarded as certain if his 
wife comes. 

I earnestly entreat an answer by return of post if possible. I can not 
tell you how I long for freedom. Here I have been too long compelled to 
be on friendly terms with despicable men, for the sake of the service, and 
the relations which it involves ; and I grow more and more acutely sensi- 
ble that these gentlemen despise all that is good in me, and despise me 
myself on account of the evil that is not in me 

CCLIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 17th July, 1819. 

You will be glad to hear that I have gained courage and energy 

to undertake an historical work of some magnitude, and that I have near- 
ly brought it to a conclusion. Namely, I have made a collection of the 
previously unknown facts and dates occurring in the fragments of the Ar- 
menian translation of the Chronicles of Eusebius, which have been recently 
discovered, and collated them with others already known, but frequently 
very obscure. By this process, the history of the earliest periods of the 
Babylonian empire, that of the Assyrian empire, and that of the Mace- 
donian dynasties after Alexander, will in many parts gain considerably in 
clearness and extent. The light thus thrown on many points, completes 
the refutation of those who maintain that Herodotus only knew history as 
an assemblage of unconnected legends, and had no definitely arranged 
chronological outline before his eyes ; the new facts furnish the greater 



380 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR, 

part of the materials necessary for a work on all the races and states 
standing*in connection with Rome — a work which can not be incorporated 
into the continuation of the Roman History, but must be present to my 
thoughts in a distinct shape. I do not so completely despair of this con- 
tinuation, since I have found that I can write, and in a much more im- 
pressive style than in better times, although very slowly. But it is terri- 
bly laborious to write here, because you not only have to go to the public 
library for every book which you do not yourself possess, but have to con- 
tend with the indolence of the Italians, as soon as you require several books 
in order to look out single scattered passages. Until lately, I had very sel- 
dom had occasion to visit the library where the printed philological works 
are generally to be found, and the regular librarian does not know who I 
am; hence, he has lately treated me with great ill-humor for giving him 
so much trouble. The librarians are Dominicans one of the most repulsive 
of the monastic orders. ...... 

Schmieder lives and boards with us, and will continue to do so until his 
wife comes, which will probably be in the autumn. It is my earnest wish 
that this noble-minded man may enjoy the happiness which he deserves. 
I have at last received partial instructions. I fear, however, that the 
Pope is near his end, and then it will be again impossible to do any thing. 
In that case, the instructions could not be executed in their present form, 
and I have in the first place to report this to my government. 

CCLIV. 

Rome, 13lh August, 1819. 
No intelligence has reached me since the unhappy occurrences in Berlin.* 
Here we have only very confused accounts of the arrests, and the search 
after papers. The seizure of Reimer's t will have made you uneasy on my 
account also. Not that you would think me capable for a moment of har- 
boring criminal designs against the State, or rash ones against the existing 
ministry. But you will fancy the possibility of strong expressions of vexa- 
tion. It will set you at ease when I tell you that I have not written to 
E/eimer at all for more than a year, that I have at no time written fre- 
quently to him, and that my letters were always short and of no political 
importance. Neither my wishes nor my hopes were in unison with his. 

To Schleiermacher and Arndt I have never written. J I am ready to 
take oath that, . according to my full belief, not one of these three is con- 
nected with any thing that could be reasonably called a secret association, 
still less a conspiracy. Reimer may have used unwarrantable expressions, 
and has made himself bitter enemies by his never-ending squabbles with 
the censorship. 

* This refers to the investigations which were set on foot after the murder of 
Kotze*bue, by Sand, to discover the revolutionary conspiracy with which his 
deed was supposed to be connected. It was afterward fully proved that he 
had acted under the impulse of maddened fanaticism without any external in- 
stigation ; but the government, at this time, fancied that the whole Burschen- 
schaft was a secret association which aimed at the overthrow of the existing 
authorities, and, therefore, all those who were in any way connected with it 
were called to account. 

t Reimer was a publisher in Berlin, and an intimate friend of Niebuhr's. 

X Schleiermacher's papers were soon restored to him ; but Arndt was less 
fortunate. He was suspended from his professorship, and his papers were de- 
tained for several years. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1819. 381 

Schleiermacher may have said unsuitable things on unsuitable occasions, 
but be has never been an advocate of revolution any more than Arndt, and 
I remember his saying to my Milly and me, when all these ideas were first 
beginning to ferment, that he shuddered to think of them. As far as his 
papers are concerned, I am quite easy about him. I am less so about 
Reimer's ; I fear misinterpretation (firmly as I am convinced of his inno- 
cence), because he often formed connections for a time with hot-headed 
men, till he perceived that there was nothing to be done with them. Still, 
nothing can be brought to light worthy the naroe of a crime. His credit 
may, however, be seriously injured by such an affair and such an interrup- 
tion to his business. 

Whether there exists any sort of conspiracy among the young men, I do 
not know ; it does not seem to me impossible ; at all events there is a 
fanatical political sect, which is more dangerous than a conspiracy, because 
it has roots that can not be destroyed except by plowing up the soil itself 
— a course not to be expected of governments which have allowed the evil 
to grow up under their own eyes, without counteracting it by wisdom and 
virtue. And this would have been possible. In 1814, the ground was 
cleared and ready to bear fruit ; but no seed was sown, and so of course 
weeds shot up in rank luxuriance. Nothing can exonerate those who 
neglected their duty at that time from the blame of these results. Then, 
love dwelt in every heart, and all were ready to welcome whatever was 
noble and good. Now, the tone of public feeling has degenerated, and 
God knows how it is to be raised. To me, our democrats are as hateful 
as lackeys aping the ways of a despot. 

CCLV. 

Rome, 28th August, 1819. 

Since I wrote to you this day week, your missing letter has come to 
hand, after a week's delay. Even the communications which I have re- 
ceived from the ecclesiastical authorities, have been opened without cere- 
mony and detained on the road, of which I have made bitter complaints 
to my minister. I conjecture that it takes place at Frankfort. 

You say that a life in Germany would now afford me little that was 
cheering, and I, too, clearly perceive this. In fact, I should unquestiona- 
bly remain here in spite of all that I risk by doing so (about which I wrote 
to you), if there were any hope that Gretchen's health could be re-estab- 
lished, or even improve in this country. Whether this will be the case in 
Germany, we do not know, but we must make the experiment. I believe 
that you yourself will pronounce me in the right, if, after a full considera- 
tion of all the reasons against this step, I decide to take it as a duty to- 
ward my poor Gretchen. Indeed I assure you that I could not do it with- 
out great sacrifices on my part, consequently am in no danger of being 
seduced by inclination. , I have gained access here to papers which are 
preserved in a building where you can not work in winter ; believe me, I 
should resign them very unwillingly, and all the more so, as it may be 
anticipated that, since they have lain there for eighty years untroubled, 
they may probably remain unnoticed forever, unless I profit by them. 
They are critical collections of extracts from manuscripts of Cicero's Ora- 
tions, with the criticism of which I have been busily engaged ever since 
the winter, and of which with these aids I should be able to publish 



382 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

regular edition. I have acquired a taste for critical researches into lan- 
guage, which formerly I was far from possessing. 

The aspect of things in Germany is certainly in every respect unfriendly 
and discouraging. You can not unite with any party, and a man of clear 
and correct views finds enemies on every side. I really look upon it as a 
blessing that I am not in Berlin at this moment : that is, if the unhappy 
circumstances which have occurred there could not have been averted, of 
which, however, I am not so fully convinced, if I could have taken a part 
in public affairs. Unfortunately our men do not perceive that in this case 
no coercive measures can avail ; indeed nothing can do good but a govern- 
ment whose wisdom and virtue should put the deluded to shame, and win 
over and appease the universities. My dispatches have often given me an 
opportunity of expressing my views respecting the inward disease of all 
States ; and while no man can find so much as a pretext for denouncing 
me as an adherent of revolutionary sentiments, I have openly expressed 
my sense of the deficiencies of our government. 

I have sought to make it intelligible that they are presuming and seek- 
ing for a conspiracy where there is a sect. The latter is perhaps more 
dangerous than the former, but it can not be crushed, even if composed of 
men of a different stamp from those who took part in this hazardous enter- 
prise among txs ; a crusade against them is as fruitless as against a relig- 
ious sect. Much has been done in ignorance ; did the governments take 
the right course, they would rule over loving subjects, and a few fiery 
heads, such as always exist, would find no materials on which to work. 
Now, when the sect has acquired firmness and consistency, the only pru- 
dent course is to soothe them by adopting wise and good measures, neither 
yielding to them, nor yet directly irritating them. There has never yet 
been a sect which did not contain some grain of truth, and this grain is 
what we must seek to appropriate ; if we do so, the residuum of folly and 
perverseness will fall to pieces of itself before a firm yet kind opposition ; 
but if you attack it, just as it stands, you often find it invincible, and at 
all events place yourself in a very dangerous position. I do not by this 
mean to deny that there may be some actual plotters behind the scenes ; 
but the number of such can not be great, and they will no doubt know how 
to keep themselves concealed. 

I am again throwing myself with full energy into all kinds of occupation, 
and to a certain extent with success. In fact by this means I grow calm- 
er, and more able to forget the annihilation of all bright visions in the so- 
cial world. I have finished my treatise on the historical acquisitions afforded 
by the Chronicles of Eusebius, which, among other things, contains the 
account of a whole period of the history of the Seleucidae. It has almost 
grown into a small book. 

This is a very unhealthy season. Thank God we keep free from the 
prevailing distempers. The numerous cases of sickness keep our dear, 
active Schmieder fully employed. There are many German artisans here, 
particularly from Switzerland, with their wives and families. Their misery 
at such a time is inconceivable, and hitherto they have often taken these 
poor creatures into the hospitals, and when there, if they refused to change 
their religion, have left them for days together without attention or food. 
The establishment of our Church will remove a part of this misery ; it 
will procure the means of help, and the poor will know to whom they may 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1819. 383 

look for assistance. I can not say too much of Schmieder's conduct in 
this, as in every other work. I feel much more happy in my own mind 
since he has been here. You see in him what genuine piety in any form 
makes of a noble spirit 

CCLVI. 

Rome, 11th September, 1819. 
I did not write to you this day week, because I was ill, and did not 
know whether it might not become serious; but I have been restored by 
prompt remedies. 

I do not know whether you have heard that a pamphlet has appeared 
in Paris, upon the so-called secret associations in France, which is written 
in a very good spirit, but, to judge from the extracts in the newspapers, 
contains many errors and inaccuracies, as to matters of fact. My name 
is mentioned in it, but with respect. Although, however, it does not 
speak of me as belonging to the Tugendbund, it is very unpleasant to me to 
find it stated, that, in 1813, Gneisenau, Humboldt, and I gave our appro- 
bation to the principles of this society. Now as I can stake my life upon 
it that I never was connected with any association, and malicious persons 
could easily take occasion from it to represent my former declarations as 
falsehoods, I felt much tempted to insert a letter on the subject in the 
French newspapers. I gave up the idea afterward, because the ill-inten- 
tioned, who have always some misinterpretation at hand, would imme- 
diately have said that I sought to exculpate myself through fear, and 
because, in my position, I can not openly express my feelings about the 
state of affairs. 

And besides, even if I had not been held back by my position as a serv- 
ant of the State, other obstacles would have been in the way. Much as I 
disapprove of the course that has been taken, I could not publicly acquit 
many of my friends of having acted so that appearances were against 
them, nor of cherishing very perverted, although not guilty sentiments. 

This opens a mournful prospect for me if I return to Germany. A sober 
man among drunkards is in a horrible position. Now my convictions are 
still the same as those which I expressed many years ago, and by which 
I drew down upon myself such absurd and venomous attacks from the 
Liberal party — that the change of forms which is necessary, and would 
save us, can not properly affect the sovereignty, but only the administra- 
tion ; that the evils from which we are suffering, so far as they are the 
work of the executive power, are not connected so exclusively with the 
persons of those who are now in office, but that we should be certain to 
experience the same again, or others, after the introduction of any repre- 
sentative system whatever ; that the source of our maladies lies in our 
national manners and tone of thought. Each man wants to govern, and 
thinks he can do it extempore ; if you doubt his capacity, he feels himself 
insulted. But no one is ready to bear burdens for the community. Every 
where men make the most unreserved claims to a comfortable life at the 
cost of the State ; and this is, in fact, with most the source of their, desire 
for change, coupled, however, with a different and far more innocent mo- 
tive, namely, such a long familiarity with scenes of violent change and 
excitement, that their minds have grown habituated to them 



384 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

CCLVII. 

Tivoli, 1st October, 1819. 

To-day I have some news to tell you, which is of no slight importance 
to me. I have received an official announcement that my instructions are 
about to be sent off. This renders it nearly impossible for me to carry out 
my proposal of requesting my recall in December. Had I not to consider 
Gretchen's health, it might and would give me much gratification to find 
myself at last engaged on more important business ; for a life in Germany 
to me would now be scarcely the shadow of my old life there. 1 look 
upon myself as one forgotten in my own country ; while here, the Pope 
and the Cabinet show me the most marked respect, kindness, and confi- 
dence. My health has improved ; my powers have been refreshed by the 
work I have just gone through ; and I am ready at least to make an at- 
tempt to resume my History. If this attempt should not prove as success- 
ful as formerly, it will not be wholly fruitless ; and I shall have eased my 
conscience by the endeavor to fulfill a sacred duty toward ray Milly. I 
have no fear of finding myself unable to conduct the negotiation well 
and skillfully ; but now comes one great drawback ; people in Germany 
make such absurd demands on the results of such a negotiation, that it is 
utterly impossible to satisfy them ; and when the affair is brought to the 
only practicable conclusion, I shall be decried without mercy. They im- 
agine that if we only set to work in the right way, we might succeed in 
driving the Roman Court to renounce its principles and its pretensions, 
and to leave the bishops so free that they could regulate the Church ac- 
cording to their own pleasure ; and that, failing in this, the governments 
ought to break off all connection with Rome, and take the whole settle- 
ment of the Church into their own hands. But such people do not reflect 
that only a very small party among the Catholics would agree to such a 
course ; and that in many districts, particularly in the Rhenish provinces 
and Westphalia, nothing would so infallibly excite discontent and disaffec- 
tion among the King's subjects as this compulsory emancipation; for, 
though, doubtless, there would be no lack of persons willing to undertake 
the office of bishops, yet as such bishops would be schismatic, all true 
Catholics would consider every rite performed by them, or by any priest 
consecrated by them, as unlawful, nay, criminal. But, however difficult it 
may be to content both parties, this negotiation is indispensable ; and if it 
be at last brought to a happy conclusion, so many evils will be obviated, 
that from this higher motive I shall derive satisfaction from it, though it 
may occasion much that is unpleasant for me. 

But Gretchen's health ! 

CCLVIII. 

Rome, 20th October, 1819. 
We returned to town again on Saturday, and it was well we did, for 
the autumn rain has been pouring down in torrents ever since. The 
severe and premature cold weather almost spoiled our stay on the slopes 
of the Apennines. Gretchen has been obliged to give up the grape cure. 
The children grew quite robust there. Amelia has at last taken courage 
to go alone ; she speaks much earlier than Marcus. The dear fellow is 
not at all jealous, and readily gives way to his sister ; he fondles her with 
intense delight, and calls her Ama mia ! He is a remarkably good child, 



EMBASSY TO ROME. 385 

The Carlsbad decrees* have made a most mischievous impression on 
the Germans here, who are mostly young men, and many of them pos- 
sessed by wild dogmas ; from this we may easily gather the effect they 
Kill produce in Germany. A favorable impression they can not make on 
any unbiased mind. It is equally severe and unjust to have recourse to 
severe and coercive measures against a sect, which your very violence 
converts into a party, without in the least reforming your own proceedings, 
without redressing a single real grievance. How utterly without love, 
without patriotism, without joy — how full of discontent and grudge must 
life bi, where this is the relation between the subjects and the govern- 
ments ! Our rulers do not perceive that Prussia can only subsist upon a 
moral and spiritual basis. I know very well whose spiritual children the 
democrats are ; I know that you can not allay the wild clamor, however 
-well you govern, unless you do them the favor of adopting their senseless 
plans ; but they would be detached from the people at large, if the latter 
found that they were governed wisely and well. 



1820. 



In July, 1820, Niebuhr at last received his instructions, after 
having waited for them four years. They arrived at a moment 
very nnpropitious for negotiation, for the revolution in Naples 
broke out on the 7th of July, and it was rumored that on the 17th, 
a similar rising was to take place at Rome, in accordance with a 
plan previously concerted with the insurgents of Naples. The ex- 
pectation of an Austrian intervention prevented the revolt in Rome 
from corning to a head, but it could not secure the inhabitants 
from the risk of a sudden incursion of the bands of robbers who 

* During the agitation occasioned by Kotzebue's murder and the investiga- 
tions to which it gave rise, Metternich and Hardenberg agreed to fill up the 
chasms left in the Act of Confederation of 1815, and, for this purpose, to hold 
ministerial conferences at Carlsbad, to which plenipotentiaries from all the 
German states were invited. The conferences began toward the end of July. 
Their results were communicated to the Frankfort Diet, and the measures 
based upon them were all brought in and accepted unanimously in one day. 
They consisted — 

I. Of the appointment of a commission to watch over the execution of the 
decrees of the Diet, which were to supersede the existing authorities in any 
German state, in case of an opposition on the part of the latter. 

II. Measures were to be taken to watch over the universities, and put down 
any indication of a revolutionary spirit among either the students or the 
professors, 

III. A rigid censorship of the press was to be established. 

IV. The appointment of a Central Committee for the investigation of all 
democratic attempts was decreed. This committee sat at Mayence, and had 
power to cause the arrest of persons on suspicion, in any part of Germany, and 
have them brought to Mayence, and detained there as long as might be found 
necessary. 

R 



386 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

had been collected and organized in large bodies by the Neapolitan 
Carbonari. There were very few troops in Rome, and none whose 
fidelity could be relied on. 

Under these painful circumstances Madame Niebuhr was con- 
fined of a daughter on the 9th of August. 

Niebuhr's position was very trying, as he could neither leave 
Rome so long as the Pope remained there, nor send his wife and 
children away without him, while, in the city, they lived in in- 
stant fear of being attacked by brigands and plundered, or carried 
off as hostages. At the same time, it was necessary to proceed 
with the negotiations, for which, however, the Roman government 
had little attention to spare at such a moment. This state of anx- 
iety lasted till the arrival of the Austrians in the February following. 
During this autumn, Niebuhr was also involved in some very 
unpleasant literary disputes. His edition of the fragments he had 
discovered in the Vatican in 1816, had come out in May. About 
the same time, a Codex was discovered by Peyron in Turin, which 
confirmed the arrangement of the fragments of Cicero's Oration 
for Scaurus, to which Niebuhr had been led by his own study of 
them. The Abbe Mai, who could not forgive Niebuhr for having 
found so many defects in his edition of Fronto, and of the Armen- 
ian Eusebius, and regarded him with envy as a fortunate rival in 
the path of discovery, accused him in a public journal of having 
learnt from the Turin MS. what he had put forth as an original 
conjecture. Niebuhr was about to publish an indignant defense, 
when Mai was persuaded by his friends, who represented to him 
the consequences of his proceeding, to retract and apologize for his 
statement in the same journal. On this Niebuhr agreed to take 
no further notice of the matter. The same charge was, however, 
repeated, and in a much more malignant manner, soon after, in 
the " Bibliothecaltaliana." This he could not leave unanswered, 
and therefore printed a pamphlet in which he refuted the state- 
ment by the clearest proofs. In January 1821, Niebuhr received 
a letter from Peyron, stating, that though he had discovered the 
fragments in question in the previous March, he had not found the 
key to their arrangement, which was the subject of the accusa- 
tion, until September ; consequently, not until three months after 
Niebuhr's edition had been in print. Peyron announced his in- 
tention of inserting this letter in a Roman journal ; the permission 
to do so was at first refused out of consideration to Mai, but Nie- 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 387 

buhr succeeded at length in extorting it from the government, 
which he would hardly have accomplished but for his official po- 
sition. 

In spite of the unsettled state of political affairs, the concourse 
of foreigners at Rome, in the winter of 1820, was unusually large. 
Prince Henry of Prussia, Prince Christian of Denmark, and the 
Crown Prince of Bavaria, with many other distinguished person- 
ages, spent the winter there. This rendered it necessary for Nie- 
buhr to enter into society so much more than he had done hitherto, 
that he was scarcely able to carry on his studies at all. He had, 
how r ever, the great pleasure of receiving a visit from Stein and his 
two daughters in December, and conversing once more with the 
great statesman upon the political topics that still lay nearest to 
his heart. 

Letters written in 1820. 
CCLIX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 1st January, 1820. 

1 can not allow the coincidence of the New Year and the post-day to pass 
without sending you a greeting, although it must be very short ; for to us 
this New Year begins like the last, with a severe illness of Gretchen's. She 
bears it with admirable patience, but it is a great calamity to us all. I do 
not think that she is in any danger, but what a life it is that she leads, 
and for me too ? And what comfort have the poor children of their mother ? 

Thus our immediate prospects on entering the New Year, are but gloomy ; 
gloomy like our sky, in which the sun has seldom appeared for the last 
three months. As concerns the world at large, I shut my eyes to the fu- 
ture. I have never deviated from the straight path since the times have 
grown so difficult any more than I did previously, and I shall continue to 
walk in it with unswerving footsteps. So long as two months ago, I ex- 
pressed my sentiments directly and openly to the King, on occasion of the 
well-known circular;* I wrote unreservedly to the minister when the first 
arrests took place ; since then I have expressed myself with equal freedom 
to the Crown Prince — I, whom the revolutionists, no doubt call an enemy 
of freedom. And I shall continue to act with the same openness, and 
leave the consequences in God's hand 

I must conclude, because my Marcus, who has been waiting patiently 
for nearly an hour, is now begging me with tears to come and play with 
him. Let me commend my dear angel children to your affection. 

CCLX. 

Rome, 22cZ January, 1820. 

The deadening influence of the climate of modern Rome is not 

common to many places in Italy, but wherever there is a similar climate, 

* A circular, by which the different embassadors were called upon to state 
their views with regard to the general political condition of Germany. 



388 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

wherever this sirocco prevails, you see the same intellectual results. I will 
not remind ycu of the fact that Rome remained quite barbarous up to the 
fifteenth century, but the stagnation of mind, and the incapacity for all 
deeper insight and classical thought, which has displayed itself in later 
times, is by no means to be ascribed exclusively, or even chiefly to the 
government and its form. From that time to this, Rome has produced no 
poet, no great author of any description, not even artists, with one excep- 
tion ; only one great philologist, and he has written no connected work of 
magnitude. Pisa has just such a climate as Rome, and, while at Flor- 
ence the human mind was exhibiting the greatest activity and life in every 
direction, no man of intellect has arisen at Pisa, and all the great works 
of art, which the wealth of that city has called into existence, have been 
executed by foreigners 

I think you will not hear without interest, that the, republic of Geneva 
has sent me the freedom of the city. With a good deal of trouble, I had 
succeeded in obtaining a papal decree separating the Catholic community 
of Geneva from the diocese of Chambery, and transferring it to the bishop- 
ric of Freiburg, in spite of the violent opposition of the court of Turin. 
Trifling and insignificant as the matter must appear to those unacquainted 
with the circumstances, you would not easily find, even among the most 
intricate negotiations, one beset with greater difficulties. This title of 
citizenship gives me quite a different sort of pleasure from any honor that 
could flatter my vanity ; though we shall all probably think very differently 
now of him who gave celebrity to the title citoyen de Geneve, from what 
we did thirty years ago. They also offered me a present of 8000 francs, 
which I declined on the spot. Do not let us question whether this decision 
might not possibly arise from an impure motive, instead of, as I think, 
from a pure and disinterested sentiment of honor ; I really only know that 
it seemed to me unbecoming to accept such a recompense and to sell my 
services. You, who know me so thoroughly, will believe me when I say 
this. 

What do people say now to the state of things in France ? I have the 
sheets still by me, in which I exposed the absurdities and inevitable con- 
sequences of the electoral law, and experience has justified every one of 
my predictions. 

If you can find a German translation of the History of the Revolution 
in Naples, in 1799, read it. From that, you will see with your own eyes, 
what hopeless ruin is brought about by the want of sound practical sense, 
even in good men, who have been embittered by a bad government and 
are filled with chimeras. I know nothing more excellent of its kind. 

Snow has lain on the ground for two days. Such an occurrence puts 
the Romans beside themselves. All the schools, libraries, &c. are closed. 
Marcus is full of glee at this strange sight, and plays with it, as the chil- 
dren do with us. 

CCLXI. 

Rome, 5th February, 1820. 
The detention of your letter beyond the limits of the long-past interval 
of delay assigned, is not only a subject of regret to me this time, but, 
coupled with the unceremonious opening of your last, it makes me uneasy 
on several accounts. In the first place, I fear lest those whose office it is 
to inspect letters at Frankfort, should suppress yours entirely, of which 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 389 

there have heen instances ; in the next, that by twisting the sense they 
may use it as a corpus delicti. Let us, however, be rather more cautious 
in the exposition of our feelings and views, and thus avoid, for God's sake, 
the interruption of a correspondence without which I can not live. 

[After repeating his reasons for leaving Rome, he thus pro- 
ceeds :] 

I hope that you too will see that I could not act otherwise. I am well 
aware of what I sacrifice if I go ; my health has improved, &c. Do not 
fancy either, that I imagine that in another climate, and luider different 
personal relations, my intellect would once more become what it was. 
That depended upon other conditions. I am now a lopped tree, winch 
may put forth green boughs again, but whose glory has departed with its 
spreading branches. 

That I look forward to the decision with an anxious and heavy heart, you 
will conceive. And besides that, there are so many other things to make 
me feel anxious and sad. A storm seems gathering on the frontiers of 
Germany ; and though I have rejoiced that in France a man had found 
the place which Nature called him to occupy, and have hoped it would be 
possible to arrest the spirit of Revolution which an ambitious man had 
called up, in order to keep the reins of a power for which he had no voca- 
tion, a short time longer in his hands ; I fear now that the destroying fates 
will triumph in that country. And, however deeply we must abhor the 
tyranny in Spain, no immediate redemption can be expected from a revolt, 
followed by the proclamation of the most senseless constitution that was 
ever hatched, but only misery and civil war. 

I am an anti-revolutionist, and from principle ; but I am so likewise 
from my antipathy to revolutionary ideas, which would be in themselves 
repugnant to me, such as they are when conceived in shallow brains, even 
if they led to no results whatever. At the same time, however, I hope 
you will give me credit for the most decided hatred to despotism, though I 
would not attempt, nor do I think it possible, to counteract it by evoking 
the demon of revolution. Dreaming will do no good ; we must think ; 
and we must rather resign ourselves to an evil, than wish the gates of 
hell to open upon us. But believe me, I am not so unfair as to condemn 
those who merely dream, and wish this in their dreams, though I could 
weep tears of blood that such errors should be possible. I know that noble 
minds may be thus led astray ; but when the confusions they excite deprive 
us all of the modicum of liberty still left to us, I have a right to be indig- 
nant. I am not now referring to the bad men who form the ringleaders ; 
they are morally criminal ; wisdom would not treat them as politically 
criminal, even if some among them are so, on which I will not decide, for 
if you touch them, you make martyrs of them. The only salvation would 
be to rule with conscientiousness, virtue, and love ; and by this means the 
goal would infallibly be reached ; and on our side, to become better, more 
virtuous, and more contented. No government could succeed, in the long 
run, in carrying out pernicious measures against a strong people, inspired 
by good and noble sentiments, and fulfilling its duties faithfully and con- 
scientiously. To wish to bring about a better state of things by revolu- 
tions, which generally owe their origin to the base motives of their leaders, 
and in which bad means are invariably resorted to, is to pay homage to 
the Jesuitical maxim, that it is lawful to make use of bad means to ac- 



390 MEMOIR OP NIEBUHR. 

gomplish a (supposed) good object. I shall adhere to these principles, al- 
though I foresee that malice will persuade folly, on the one side, that I am 
a revolutionist, on the other hand, that I am a foe to freedom. Strange ! 
that I am not misunderstood in France and England, where I am daily- 
becoming better known. 

Not to conceal from you the good qualities of Rome, I must tell you that 
the spring is already so far advanced, that at this moment, some hours 
after sunset, a knot of the common people are singing under the windows 
of my room (in which I have no fire) with the guitar : the Carnival has 
begun, and does impart some vivacity to these inanimate Italians. 

I am very tender-hearted to-day ; I have had an affecting dream, which 
transported me to past times with such vividness, that their scenes have 
been floating before me all day with a half reality 

CCLXII. 

Rome, 25th March, 1820. 
This time, too, the apprehensions aroused by the non-arrival of your 
dear affectionate letter have been happily dispelled. 

I could wish that our authorities would make it a maxim, as much as 
possible, to promote the sons of landed proprietors in the army in prefer- 
ence to others. This is not a question of the possession, or absence, of 
noble birth, but of a particular species of fixed and independent property. 
For people who possess a fixed and independent income, the army is a 
worthy occupation, which they may resign without becoming a burden on 
the State, and then live with dignity in the country. It is in this way, 
and by filling offices like those of the Justices of the Peace in England, that 
the gentry becomes respectable ; with a genuine gentry all depends upon 
these characteristics, not upon what we generally understand by the term 
nobility. The war has left us far too many young officers without property, 
many of whom have been withdrawn from other professions. The great 
point is, that each should have a fixed mode of life, an appropriate calling; 
so that the people at large may not wander from the manifold paths of 
human activity, and throw themselves on the one road of governing. On 
questions respecting the State, and the highest subjects of this high art — 
for which there is a peculiar talent, and an aptitude for cultivation just as 
much as for the other arts, and which is just as rare as other talents — 
dogmas are now enunciated with an arrogance, and a superficiality which 
must provoke, or grieve all men of penetration. People praise and decry 
without knowledge of mankind, without insight into political science, with- 
out understanding the aims, the means, or the difficulties of their rulers. 

That people should form a correct judgment respecting persons and cir- 
cumstances with which they never come in contact, no one can demand ; but 
we have a right to demand, that those who have not the means of seeing 
to the bottom, should express their opinions modestly. Under the terror 
of wild revolutions, all Europe is congealing into an iron despotism, and 
Germany is drifting toward foreign servitude. 

Spain, likewise ! For King Ferdinand no punishment can be too severe ; * 
but remember my prophecy ; the constitution, if really carried out, can not 
subsist six months : such a monster of anarchy ! A great part of the coun- 

* A military insurrection in the January of this year had proved successful, 
and Ferdinand had been compelled to swear to the constitution of the Cortes. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 391 

try, nay, whole provinces, have not the least wish for it ; and, in this in- 
stance, too, no higher wisdom has heen recognized than the idol of smooth 
uniformity, to which millions are required to sacrifice their feelings and 
their freedom ! In such a case, nothing hut a military government can 
exist, and even under such a rule one leader must contend with another, 
until one gains the victory, and in his turn comes to be overthrown. 

We are tending toward that condition in the Roman Empire, when ab- 
solute sovereigns reigned without hereditary succession. Our hereditary 
monarchies are a blessing, which will be recognized when it is lost. Not 
that every hereditary dynasty is so — in Spain, for instance, it has greatly 
sinned. But that any sudden catastrophe is the greatest misfortune. I 
feel with the fullest conviction. 

CCLXIII. ♦ 

Rome, &th May, 1820. 

I think you, too, would allow that one could hardly find a better and 
more amiable child than Marcus. He wins all hearts — his openness, his 
joyous sensibility, and the absence of all disagreeable ways, give every 
body a steady liking for him. His little outbreaks of self-will, which 
never go so far as ill-temper, and the reproofs for them, which he receives 
with tears, are always followed by remarkably good behavior. He is 
quite free from the ugly fault of covetousness. He daily shows indications 
of a good heart, which make me love him more and more. I trust that he 
will grow up a very simple character, without show and pretension. May 
God preserve his present fine and noble nature ! I have not seen in him a 
single "spirituel" trait, and it may be, perhaps, that my father may in all 
respects live over again in him. He will have very good abilities for learn- 
ing and retaining. He knows his letters. He does not yet take much in- 
terest in stories ; but all the more in seeing things, and when I walk with 
him I tell him the names of every thing, of buildings, &c. His perceptive 
powers are excellent. Thus, for instance, he distinguishes marble from 
travertine very correctly, and the latter often from peperine. The less 
lively his imagination is, so far, the less need I hesitate in reading the 
poets aloud to him, as soon as he likes to hear them. On this account, 
however, it is a pity that he is so backward in German, and that there is 
no readable Homer in Italian 5 else it must familiarize a child much more 
with the ancient poets, and bring them nearer to him, to be able to show 
him the statues hi the museums. ' I shall for the present direct the whole 
course of his instruction mostly to visible and living objects. 

You ask about Spain, and I think I can give you a very decided answer. 
The constitution deserves all the evil that is said of it, and is as wretched 
and shallow a piece of parchment, as has seen the light any where, since 
it has been the fashion for people to employ their odd hours in framing 
constitutions 5 not to mention the fact, that it renders it impossible to re- 
tain America, whose share hi the representation, even taking only the 
white population into account, is, in every point of view, so disproportion- 
ately small, that it remains practically without any part in the govern- 
ment, and is, moreover, absolutely compelled to protest against the uni- 
formity of legislation. So, too, the Cortes of 1810 drove the Americans to 
rebellion, and the greatest atrocities took place under their government in 
Mexico, while their fall brought Mexico into subjection again, just because 



392 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR, 

they had been hated to the last degree. The equalization of all the Span- 
ish provinces of the peninsula is an absurdity, and as great an injustice 
toward Biscay, as were the violent measures which the Directory adopted 
to compel the Swiss to unity. Since the supreme power is placed without 
limitation in the hands of a hundred and eighty men, who are chosen on 
no other grounds, at least at present, than their political fanaticism, and 
for speeches which sound magnificent to fools, nothing can be more certain 
than that the proceedings of such an assembly will be marked by a total 
want of wisdom, and the most arbitrary exercise of power. This would be 
the case, even if they found no opposition ; but they will find opposition, 
and excite it ; m the first place, from the provinces which find their priv- 
ileges attacked, like Biscay, and from those which desire something quite 
different — namely, a federative republic, like Catalonia and Galicia; in the 
second place, from the chiefs of the army, who have already, in 1813, re- 
fused to obey an imperious and ridiculous assembly, and who, with some 
isolated exceptions, do not trouble themselves in the least about the con- 
stitution, but only care to get power into their own hands. If these par- 
ties should rise against each other, the now insignificant faction of the 
king, and the mnch more powerful one of the clergy, would mingle in the 
strife — gain nothing for themselves, but make confusion worse confounded. 
The Spaniards, with the exception of the Catalonians, who differ little 
from the French, are divided into two classes, which are as different as 
any two nations ; the people, especially the inhabitants of the country, and 
the country towns, which, at least up to the time of the war, had remained 
nearly what they were four centuries ago ; and the educated ranks, whose 
mental cultivation is entirely French. I am reading just now a survey of 
the Castilian poetry by Quintana, their most celebrated author, and it is 
really disgusting to see not only how entirely destitute he is of all feeling 
for the magnificence and genius of the Spanish literature, but how his own 
language is crammed with Gallicisms, so that his book, translated literally 
into French, would read like an original work, but one below the average 
of mediocrity. The Spaniards have never understood either how to obey 
or to command ; certainly not how to govern, except as despots ; not only 
in the revolutionary war, but throughout the whole course of their old 
history, nothing has been accomplished by masses of men, but always by 
detached bands. They are the only nation whom you can call, in its 
essence — the common people — truly poetical ; the cultivated classes have 
quite lost this beautiful characteristic, and have not acquired in its stead 
those qualities which can not spring up where that exists. Pride has al- 
ways been the distinguishing feature of the Spaniards ; in the very heat of 
the revolutionary war, many generals were faithless to the common cause 
(although the number of actual traitors was extremely small), because 
they were too proud to take an inferior position. Hatred is much more 
common among them than love and friendship ; the slightest offense con- 
verts friends into deadly enemies. These are no elements of freedom. 
"Were it not for the compact power of France, I would wish nothing better 
for Spain than that she might become a federative State, since the mon- 
archy has once for all been trifled away : only, without some special good 
fortune, I hardly think that such a State could sustain the first severe 
shock, and maintain itself till the people had become habituated to it. If 
King Ferdinand's conduct had not been quite so unbearable, a sudden con- 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 393 

vttlsion in favor of absolute monarchy would have been very possible, such 
as took place in 1814, wlien there were universal rejoicings over the fall 
of the Cortes (for the truth of this fact is quite certain) ; but he has acted 
too insanely. 

One good trait of the Spaniards is integrity in money matters, and not 
a single accusation has ever boon brought against the Cortes in this re- 
spect. How different is it here in Italy ! "What is to become of Italy, 
if a revolution break out, one can not even imagine. Thoroughly bad as 
the government of the priests is, I declare with full conviction, that if the 
power were to fall into the hands of other classes here, the state of affairs 
would be incomparably worse. 

During the last few days, I have been reading with great interest a 
quite forgotten, though printed pamphlet of the year 1420, entitled, "A 
Project for the Peloponnesus;" it furnishes a remarkable instance of how 
men look to revolutionary changes in the legislature for real help, in times 
of utter national decay, when in fact no resource remains, and improve- 
ment from such a quarter is a sheer impossibility. It contains the funda- 
mental ideas of the French economists from the pen of a Byzantine 
scholar 

CCLXIV. 

Rome, 25t/i June, 1820. 

I have been obliged to begin an entirely new and different life 

here from my earlier one, and this is a miserable thing. Perhaps I am 
better than you ever knew me ; more patient, more self-sacrificing, freer 
from selfishness, more reasonable. If so, I owe it to having children to 
train, and to my duties toward the children and my poor Gretchen. 

With regard to my political views and convictions, I have the repose of 
that unshakable conviction which results from the immediate intuition of 
the truth ; and opposite opinions do not irritate me, because they can not 
perplex me for a moment. All comes to pass just as I had long ago fore- 
seen and foretold, and all that I now foresee will also come to pass. 
There are men whom I have never seen, with whom I could act in perfect 
concert, because what they say and think is as if it came from my inmost 
soul. Such an one is the minister de Serre, who saw as I did three years 
ago, then allowed himself to be led astray by yielding his conviction to 
that of his friends ; whose heart is broken for his error ; and who now 
presents, perhaps, the most tragic spectacle in Europe, that of a man who 
is sacrificing his life to atone for an error, although it is too late to remedy 
it, and that which is intended as a remedy is still an evil, though certainly 
of infinitely less magnitude. A year and a half ago, I said to a friend of 
de Serre, "Your friend will soon wish to buy back the words he has 
uttered with his life, but I can not therefore cease to love and revere him." 

The night before last, I read through a thick packet of pamphlets from 
Spain. What empty bombast, what miserable twaddling, what a dark 
night without a ray of hope ! In Spain, there are perhaps many well- 
intentioned persons on the revolutionary side ; hundreds of thousands are 
exasperated, and with justice. On the other side, there is, perhaps, no- 
thing healthy and good ; but the shallowness and incapacity of the well- 
meaning among the revolutionists throws their game into the hands of the 
rogues among them, and is in itself enough to ruin every thing. They 

R* 



394 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

will strive after a republic with uniformity and despotism, and it will end 
with a military dictatorship. In the ministry, a second party have already 
attained the height of reputation, and even these are already beginning to 
decline. 

I have had a literary pleasure in reading the Provencal Trouba- 
dours which have come out in France. They display a beauty such as I 
had never dreamed of. They are far above their reputation. The new 
poems of Lamartine are also beautiful. We can get nothing here from 
Germany, and for new books I am almost entirely limited to French 
literature. 

CCLXV. 

Rome, 28tk July, 1820. 

Three weeks ago, I wrote you in haste the news of the revolution that 
had suddenly broken out in Naples, and a fortnight ago, I sent you an 
equally hurried letter, saying that we are anticipating similar occurrences 
here. My silence will have made you uneasy, but it was impossible to 
write 

Our fear that a revolution would break out here also, was no chimera. 
A plan, intended to put the people into a ferment, was fortunately dis- 
covered and frustrated, and, by a still greater piece of good fortune, the 
leaders of the Neapolitan revolution, who had previously formed conspira- 
cies through the whole of Italy as they found opportunity, had grown shy 
of carrying on proceedings which might draw down a storm on their own 
heads, while they might otherwise hope to remain undisturbed. Hence 
they rejected the proposals of the P^oman malcontents, though they had 
stirred up a revolt at Beneventum and Pontecorvo only a week before. 
These circumstances give us some security ; though security is not the 
right word, for any accident may cause the tempest to burst here 
too. The populace is extremely ill affected toward the government, and 
after all the changes that have taken place in the world, and in men's 
minds, an ecclesiastical government can scarcely have any stability in 
itself. 

The army can not be relied on ; if it were not for that, we might sleep 
in peace, weak as it is in numbers; for without an external impulse 
which would justify our worst fears, the population of Rome will certainly 
not stir. 

But things can not remain quiet for any length of time, if the revolu- 
tionary party in Naples should maintain themselves in power, or if, as 
appearances betoken, the agitation there should resolve itself into a wild 
anarchy. 

In the first case, the present authorities of Naples would gain courage, 
in which they are very deficient at present ; in the second, bands of men 
would force their way over the frontiers. 

The Neapolitan revolution, accomplished apparently with such unanim- 
ity, and without acts of violence, as great pains are taken to report, may 
appear a very splendid affair at a distance, but seen near, it is a dreadful 
and melancholy occurrence. Not that the former government was good, 
and worthy of respect — far from it ; it was superficial and foolish ; not 
tyrannical, but the taxes it imposed were very burdensome. 

The revolution has been effected, on the one hand, by ambitious officers, 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 395 

on the other, by the lodges of the Carbonari, who are in every respect the 
wildest and most execrable class of Jacobins. The two parties have work- 
ed side by side and together, but not for the same end. The most widely 
differing views prevail in the different provinces. Apulia, for instance, 
and others, want to secede, and form separate republics. This is, at bot- 
tom, the characteristic tendency of the Italians now, as in the middle 
ages. The idea of unity exists in some large towns among the very small 
class of educated persons, and those who hope to get higher and more lu- 
crative posts in a larger State. It is espoused by the army. At the pres- 
ent moment, not a creature pays the taxes in the Neapolitan territory, and 
the State is obliged to pay not only the soldiers, but also the thousands of 
Carbonari who have enlisted in the ranks. 

Among the new ministers, there is one whom I know well by reputation, 
and to some extent personally, Count Zurlo,* an excellent man, whom the 
King ought to have called in long ago ; but already the Carbonari are call- 
ing for his head, and very likely he will have to be sacrificed. They are 
endeavoring, at Naples, to arm the most respectable citizens, and to turn 
the armed Carbonari out of the city. If they succeed in both attempts, and 
if General Pepe will lower the insolence of his tone, the government may 
maintain itself for a time till the Cortes assemble, when, indeed, the con- 
fusion of Babel will certainly commence. Meanwhile, however, they are 
risking the defection of most of the provinces. 

We know as yet very few details of the horrors of Palermo.! The peo- 
ple at Naples seek to draw a vail over them. So much is certain, that 
the massacres lasted five days ; the troops fired upon the people ; the sol- 
diers were fired on xrom the houses, and even the nuns poured boiling 
water on them. National hatred and party hatred have had free scope. 
According to the smallest estimate, three thousand persons have perished. 
Seven hundred galley-slaves were let loose to assist in the attack on the 
soldiers. These united themselves afterward with the dregs of the popu- 
lace in committing all imaginable atrocities. The Prince della Cattolia. 
a man of great beneficence, was murdered, and his head and limbs carried 
about on pikes. All the gates were shut, and there was no bread left in 
the town. It is conjectured, that the soldiers who were taken prisoners 
have died of hunger. This is revolution for you ! 

And we should have had just such scenes to expect here, where, besides 
the other prisoners, and the innumerable criminals who go about at large, 
eight hundred are shut up in houses of correction ; and there is no army, 
nor national guard, that can be depended on. The most frightful case' of 
all would be if the revolution here broke out among the populace, who 
would instantly begin to plunder. A military revolution passes over quiet- 
ly, as far as private individuals are concerned. 

The Carbonari in Naples would have arrested and murdered all the Si- 
cilians of rank. Some of them the government has been obliged to send to 
a fortress, in order to save their lives. 

At Benevento, murders have been committed out of sheer wantonness. 
This, too, would never have reached our ears, but that Benevento is a Pa- 
pal town. The proclamations issued by those who are in authority there, 

* He had been minister under Murat. 

t The Sicilians did not trust the new constitutional government, and wished 
for the independence of Sicily. Their resistance continued for some time. 



396 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

show them to be fellows of the lowest class ; their chief had been previous- 
ly in the galleys. 

Under such circumstances, one can think of nothing else, and must be 
heavy-hearted. Then, too, there is the fear, which is becoming very gen- 
eral, that through the anarchy prevailing in Naples, the plague may be 
allowed to spread from Majorca to Italy. It is raging to a fearful extent 
in that island; whole villages have been depopulated, and the houses de- 
stroyed since by fire. But the cordon has been broken, and thus the whole 
island is probably infected. 

It was most intensely hot weather here till Sunday evening, 30° Reau- 
mur, in the sun up to 45° ; and we have had no rain for two months. 
Either from this, or accidentally, or from incendiarism, some woods have 
caught fire ; more than two square German miles, containing 25,000 olive 
trees, vineyards, &c, have been laid in ashes. 

Under such circumstances, I have to conduct a negotiation, the issue of 
which would be problematical, even if every thing were quiet ; for which 
no one here has now any attention to spare, and at which I am neverthe- 
less obliged to work as arduously, under the burden of the oppressive heat, 
as if we could look forward to a long and secure future. I have succeeded 
very well with the principal part of the business, but I have worked my- 
self almost ill with it. 

Moltke went to Naples some time since. Charles seems to be a 

noble-minded youth. 

CCLXVI. 

Rome, 2id September, 1820. 

You will ascribe it to the disturbances and my interruptions that I did 
not write last week. 

Gretchen will tell you with her own hand about herself and our little 
Lucia. Amelia, sweet child, grows more and more affectionate in her 
ways. Marcus is always a source of joy to us. His nature is thoroughly 
good, and his faculties become more and more harmonious as they develop 
themselves. He has a very quick understanding 

You inquire the origin of the Carbonari. They were originally nothing 
more than a development of freemasonry, and it might perhaps be said 
that all the freemasons in Italy are Carbonari, or Guelphs, or Adolphs, 
&c, though the converse would not hold good ; for the derived associations 
have attained a much wider extent than the parent society. When the 
French invaded Italy in 1796, and occupied Rome in 1798, Naples in 
1799, the revolution had been prepared in the lodges of the freemasons, 
and, with a few exceptions, all the freemasons declared for it. The gen- 
eration who were then growing up, without affection for any thing, striving 
only after commotion, still harbored under the French rule a longing for 
ferment and change, while the elder generation, especially those whom we 
term cultivated people, attached themselves with joy to the government 
of Bonaparte, whose legislation afforded them the realization of all that 
according to their system they demanded as that without which there can 
be no palvation ; viz. : new codes of law, equal inheritance, the removal 
of all corporations, convents, &c. ; some of which measures were whole- 
some, some injudicious, and some vitally pernicious. When the name 
Carbonari came into use, I do not know ; but the class already existed in 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 397 

the provinces under Murat. They did not, however, attain much import- 
ance till afterward, when they were joined by the party of Murat, which 
certainly was a curious amalgamation. They have the greatest variety 
of objects, from the unity of all Italy under a Bonapartean, to her dissolu- 
tion into a federative republic. Of course, by far the majority of them sim- 
ply follow their leaders blindfold, and large numbers have no object, that 
is, they only desire anarchy. The tendency to a federative republic pre- 
vails, however, to the greatest extent among those who have the most 
practical truth in their views, as it does in Spain and Portugal, which the 
revolutionists would divide into seven republics. To this the armies are 
opposed, except in so far as their chiefs may influence them on the condi- 
tion of becoming presidents themselves. The conspiracy lately discovered 
at Naples to murder the ministers, shows what we have to expect when 
the parliament shall be assembled. There are numbers of the clergy 
among the Carbonari, especially monks, who lost their taste for a convent- 
ual life during the secularization ; they have many members, too, among 
the inferior nobility. A part of the higher nobles were with them also at 
first, attracted by the promise of an aristocratic constitution. 

Our baby will be christened to-morrow in our chapel. She will be called 
Lucia Dorothea Elizabeth. Freddy, Cornelius, the Goschens, and the 
Bunsens are her sponsors. 

CCLXVIL 

Rome, 14th October, 1820. 

The time of terror is still deferred from day to day ; the danger of con- 
tagion and of an internal explosion is dispelled by the assembling of the 
Austrian troops, but that of an invasion, which should throw every thing 
into anarchy, is still as threatening as before ; and, in such a case, one 
must either remain, or if flight were still possible, leave all one's posses- 
sions behind. Most people are careless enough to entertain no further 
apprehensions, because the invasion has been delayed beyond all expecta- 
tion. Now it is certainly true that the Neapolitans, if they have good 
counsel among them, and remember the events of the war between 1798 
and 1815, must halt their army on their own frontier, where they can take 
up very advantageous positions. But this would not prevent a corps of 
Carbonari, with their followers, from coming here, as soon as the Austrians 
advance from the opposite side, and such an incursion is naturally much 
worse than the entrance of a tolerably disciplined army. One great thing 
is, that fugitives from hence would find it very difficult, if not impossible, 
to leave in a hurry, because hundreds of carriages would quit the city at 
once, and not more than twenty post horses are provided at any stage ; 
eighty could not possibly be mustered, for no horses are used in agriculture 
here, not to mention that the first four or five stages are in a desert. We 
must console ourselves with thinking that we might be still worse off. The 
Sardinian embassador, a man whom I like much, has seven children and a 
very aged father in his house ; the latter is so weak that he can not bear 
the motion of a carriage, and has to be carried in a litter. 

Will the Neapolitans offer a vigorous resistance ? The army certainly 
will not ; according to all appearances it will present in the field nothing 
but scenes of disgraceful cowardice ; it is certain that the soldiers have 
already displayed timidity. So too the Palermifcans behaved miserably in 



398 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the field. In Naples itself, a similar resistance may be offered to that in 
Palermo, where horrors occurred over which it is sought to draw a vail. 
The upper classes had fled from the city, and the lowest populace certainly 
fought with an heroic fury. This class, however, took far more interest in 
the matter than the corresponding class in Naples ; for although every one 
is now enrolling himself among the Carbonari, it is only done in order to 
obtain recommendations, favors, or impunity for crimes. There will be no 
lack of assassinations, and shots from behind hedges. 

The leaders reckoned on an insurrection in France, or they would not 
have ventured so far. They are a thoroughly bad set, but we must not 
refuse to admit that in the capital the cause has been joined by men of talent, 
of whom there is not in general such a deficiency in Naples as in Rome. 

God only knows what the issue will be ; tragic it must be in any case. 
The bloodlessness of this last revolution is a delusive appearance. Blood 
enough has flowed in Sicily alone, and many single murders have occurred 
in Naples, but have been hushed up. In Spain, too, eight-and-twenty have 
been condemned to death at one time, and in many towns, fights have 
taken place which have been accompanied with loss of life ; those execu- 
tions are but the commencement. Paladini and his accomplices, who have 
been arrested at Naples, intended to assassinate the ministers. For the 
rest, in Spain civil war is inevitable ; whole districts are opposed to the 
new order of things ; whole provinces wish, on the contrary, for a feder- 
ative republic, and on the third and following days, Riego and Iris com- 
panions intended to murder the King and Prince Carlos, and to depose the 
ministers ; and at the same time, another revolutionary party planned to 
take advantage of the indignation excited by these machinations to put an 
end to the Cortes, and overthrow those same ministers. All hope of found- 
ing a system of order and law is lost in this horrible confusion. If the 
revolution take root, one can only look for a military rule, or, after long, 
unspeakable conflicts and misery, for a republic on the American footing, 
which is, in truth, the most unprofitable and distasteful to all the wants 
of our heart and intellect that can be imagined. All higher individuality, 
nay, all true private life disappears, where only low political interests are 
the ruling topic, and barbarism draws close upon us. 

It is impossible but that the coquetting with Catholicism, which is now in 
fashion among a certain class, should come to an end ; it is altogether too 
untruthful and revolting a comedy. Here, in Italy, faith in the Church has 
so completely died out, that the mummy would fall into dust at the first 
hard blow. But what will replace it, God knows, since there is not a 
human throb in the heart of these people, and not a want is felt beyond 
those of the animal nature. It is just the same among the educated 
classes in Spain, where religion is regarded as an insupportable yoke. 

Some time ago, you called the present rapid spread of dishonesty, aeon- 
sequence of the extinction of religion. I do not know whether the genera- 
tion which we saw around us in our youth still retained, in general, much 
religion ; they too, for the most part, had grown up in an age when the old 
respect for religion no longer subsisted. But they had grown up with 
habits of peaceable endurance, of economy, and moderation in their require- 
ments, and were still imbued with the old maxims of integrity and honor, 
which must not be ascribed entirely to religious belief, but in great meas- 
ure to their condition as citizens. When every one makes claims to a 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 399 

higher standing than he possesses, not from a correct comparison of himself 
with others and a consciousness of his true worth, hut from ambition and 
unfounded presumption ; — when all sense of duty is extinguished, and all 
family feeling vanishes; — when men are no longer intent upon laying a 
foundation for their children's future fortunes, hut want to live luxuriously 
in show and splendor, the course of things must be what it is ; and the un- 
happy generation who have been neglected by their parents, and grown up 
under the deadening influence of constant dissipation and amusement, sink 
into crime and barbarism. You can scarcely see a sadder sight than a 
great part of the youths in this city ; they are, without exception, warm 
(so-called) friends of *freedom ; for freedom means with them to know 
nothing, and to learn nothing, and yet to be puffed up with conceit, and 
to do whatever their hearts lust after. Among the elder men, there is a 
poor sort of learning ; still it is a sort, and gained by real work, though 
of a stupid kind. The younger men are much duller still. Old truths 
have become something quite foreign, and of new truths there is not even 
a germ, so that nothing but crude force can take effect — this alone has 
any truth to them. 

The people can no longer afford to pay the taxes, and if an army make 
a revolution, unopposed by the people because they find their state unbear- 
able, the first thing will be, that the soldiers will insist on an increase of 
their pay, as has taken place in Spain and Naples. The end may be, that 
the troops divide the land among themselves in districts, and give rise to 
a new feudalism. 

I have brought my negotiation to a conclusion, with the exception of a 
few unimportant points on which a decision has to come from Berlin, and 
I may say a brilliant conclusion. Bernstorf * recognizes this warmly. 

With regard to myself, I have no plans at all at present, and leave 
every thing to Providence. On Marcus's account I should now prefer stay- 
ing here for another twelvemonth 

CCLXVIII. 

Rome, 28^ October, 1820. 

The month is drawing to a close without any calamity having overtaken 
us ; and that is more than I, or probably you, had expected. Among the 
Roman populace itself, the fear of foreign troops has long since quenched 
all disposition to rash attempts ; and, in Naples, the power of the Govern- 
ment, who expect nothing but great calamities from a war, is just now 
sufficient to restrain the madmen who expected all the aivantages of 
plunder from an irruption into the neighboring country, without great 
peril, because they could run out again in time. Meanwhile the decisive 
event is approaching, and can hardly be delayed so long as a fortnight ; 
and for this interval we must pray God for his merciful protection. 

The annulling of the capitulation of Palermo, will have given your quick 
sense of justice a standard by which to judge of these revolutionists. The 
Sicilians demanded nothing more than their established right of a separate 
government — like Holstein from Denmark ; and the decree that every 
town, great or small, should have an equal vote, was the most decisive 
refutation of the charge, that Palermo wanted the sovereignty of the island 
* The Minister of Foreign Affairs. 



400 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

for herself. Will this perfidious canceling of the articles of capitulation 
he also called in Germany a hrave and splendid deed, as so many of a 
similar kind in the French Revolution have been ? The interior of Sicily 
is still in full revolt, in which, moreover, the whole population takes part ; 
while in Naples it is a mere fragment of the nation that takes any interest 
in the new regime, from which people neither expect a lightening of their 
burdens, nor the removal of any real grievance. 

Stein is to arrive here in December — a meeting which I never expected. 
I have already received several letters from him, written in a mild and 
friendly tone. My only fear is, that the disorder in his eyes will have 
made him peevish ; else, what would I not give, to'see any one here with 
whom I could converse on the subjects that refresh my heart ! 

Have any little pieces and fragments, written in his glorious 

youthful period, come to light in the new edition of Goethe ? Any frag- 
ments of the "Wandering Jew, or his Mahomet ? Or the deified Demon 
of the Woods. 

CCLXIX. 

Rome, 11th November, 1820. 

The post has brought me no letter from you, and now, all letters are 
opened. 

You will perhaps have seen from the newspapers, that the Neapolitan 
government has given notice to the Roman, that their troops will advance 
as soon as the Austrians do so. No fault can reasonably be found with this. 
But thus the critical moment for us is at hand. Remain, the embassadors 
can not, if the Pope goes away, who, on his part, must not wait the ar- 
rival of revolutionary troops, and run the risk of being carried off. How 
desperate the chances of escape are, I have already told you. Our property 
must, in any case, be left at stake. The insubordination and want of 
discipline that already exists among the Neapolitan troops is unparalleled. 
By way of doing all that is possible, I have taken a trustworthy Pied- 
montese into my service, who must look after my things as far as he can. 

The Neapolitan parliament are acting in the most senseless manner ; 
their financial measures are wretched. Two motions alone display intel- 
ligence and insight, both made by Sicilians ; one is for the repeal of the 
dues on consumption which appertain to the communes on feudal estates ; 
the other, for the transfer of conventual estates to the parishes, and their 
division into small, hereditary farms. Both motions violate strict justice, 
but they would produce a salutary effect. That is not the case with such 
as spring from a wild revolutionary spirit. For instance, in Spain, two- 
thirds of the landed property are being brought into the market almost at 
one moment, because all the ecclesiastical estates, valued at 5000 milliards 
of francs, are to be sold, and the half of all entailed estates is made sala- 
ble from the present time. By this measure, the value of all other estates 
is annihilated, as has been the case for some years past in Sicily, where, 
before the revolution broke out, estates to the value of 20,000,000 piastres 
were offered for sale, and not a single purchaser could be found. The 
State is about to sell the Church property by auction ; and has declared 
that it will not pay interest upon its bonds, nor recognize them ha any 
other way than by receiving them in payment at these sales. These bonds 
are, for the most part, the old paper currency, bearing interest, which came 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1820. 401 

into the hands of the stockjobbers long ago, some of it at from 5 to 6 
per cent. Large sums are in the hands of foreign stockjobbers, and such 
will now become purchasers, or let others buy for them. What a class of 
large landed proprietors will be thus created ! As a sacrifice to the idol 
of uniformity, a general law respecting the corn trade has been made, of 
which the consequence is, that in Gallicia, which does not produce half 
the corn it consumes, prices have already doubled, because the entrance 
of foreign grain is prohibited till the average price of the whole country 
has reached a certain height ; but now, as high roads and conveyances 
are wanting, and as the corn from the interior must be brought four hun- 
dred miles on mules before it reaches the coast, a famine must prevail in 
the northern provinces, till the prices there make that average when reck- 
oned together with the extremely low prices in New Castile. And is such 
a government and legislation praiseworthy, and the harbinger of prosperity 
and freedom? But where revolutionists have the upper hand, such blun- 
dering and pernicious measures will never be absent. They must occur, 
because this party neither possess a general knowledge of the capabilities 
of a country, nor understand governing, and the inevitable consequences 
of this are measures that defeat their own end, and laws that bring ca- 
lamity in their train. Smuggling and highway robbery are now carried 
on to an unexampled extent in Spain ; this is acknowledged even by the 
^iberal journals of Madrid. The worst enemies of the liberals could not 
say worse of them than they say of each other — that is, those who want 
places say of those who have them. All are asking for rewards, places, 
pensions. The year can scarcely end without a crisis. 

In Naples, a week ago, all the troops were ordered out during two 
whole nights, cannons planted, &c. To prevent a counter revolution ? 
Nothing of the kind — the police had had a desperate smuggler arrested. 
But as the fellow was master of a lodge of the Vendita, the Carbonari 
united to release him by force from the prison, and assassinate the min- 
isters. 

Whether the new electoral law in France will be sufficient to prevent 
shameless anarchy from obtaining a legitimate organ in the State, I do 
not know; experience alone can decide this point; but that without an 
alteration of the mischievous one that preceded it, a revolution would in- 
fallibly have occurred at the New Year, I was quite convinced, when it 
was still doubtful whether the new ministry would decide upon bringing 
in such a measure. 

I have now seriously set about the continuation of my History; far 
more to distract my mind from its gloomy apprehensions respecting the 
state of public affairs, than in the hope of satisfying myself with what I 
write. I have already told you of the difficulties under which I labor with 
regard to it. I have likewise taken up the political writings of Plato 
again. No doubt I have often confessed to you already that I find little 
congeniality with him, and that the mixture of profundity and sophistry, 
of elevated thought and aimless oddity, in this tedious labyrinth torments 
me ; and that the consolation that there exists an inner doctrine of which 
we see only the outward husk, does not satisfy me. It is, to say the least, 
a capricious whim to give us, not that doctrine, but a form at which we 
have a right to cavil. Meanwhile, I am seeking to divine this hidden 
meaning ; and I have an episode in my mind in which I shall make use of 



402 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

it, either before or after the first Punic war, in order to exhibit the manners, 
the religion, and the jurisprudence of the earliest times of Ptome. I shall 
afterward give the judgment which Plato and Aristotle, or their disciples, 
would, according to their own principles, have pronounced on Rome as it 
then was, if they had known it. 

I have been induced to write down my ideas respecting a more effectual 
regulation of the universities. Essential improvements in them may be 
easily indicated 

CCLXX. 

Rome, I6tk December, 1820. 

You will have seen by the papers that the sovereigns have in- 
vited the King of Naples to a conference at Laybach. What ensued there- 
upon at Naples is briefly as follows. The ministers, with the exception 
of two Carbonari, Ricciardi and de Thomasis, were convinced of the mis- 
chievous effects of the revolution. This was above all the case with Count 
Zurlo, a very eminent man ; he therefore induced the King and the major- 
ity of the ministers to issue a proclamation, whereby the King declared that 
he would grant a modified constitution, guaranteeing every thing that 
could be reasonably desired. He expected support ; he has found himself 
mistaken. All have shown themselves cowards ; and his colleagues have 
been impeached by the Jacobinical ministers. Count Zurlo is charged with 
high treason, and is probably ruined. The King has left Naples, and war 
is inevitable. 

Amidst these alarming prospects, this winter has been to me the least 
quiet that I have passed here. Prince Henry of Prussia, and the Princes 
of Denmark and Bavaria are here. All this gives occasion to parties and 
invitations from which I can not excuse myself; and the dinners always 
cost me the time from four to nine o'clock. M. Von Stein arrived here 
also last week 



1821. 



The Austrians entered Rome, on their march to put down the' 
Neapolitan constitution, in February, 1821. The doubts that 
were felt respecting their success were soon dispelled, by the un- 
exampled cowardice of the Neapolitans, who fled at the first 
attack. 

In the same month, Hardenberg, who was attending the con- 
ference at Laybach, unexpectedly came to Rome, and, during his 
short £tay, the negotiations with the Papal government were 
brought to a satisfactory issue. The terms of the treaty were 
already settled before his arrival ; nothing was wanting but its 
ratification. Niebuhr; readily gave up the credit in the eyes of 
the world of having accomplished this transaction, for the sake 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1821. 403 

of forwarding the business itself, and proposed, of his own accord, 
that Hardenberg should undertake the conclusion of the treaty. 

It was stated in many public journals, that Niebuhr had spent 
four years in fruitless negotiations ; while Hardenberg found 
means to conclude a treaty in a few days. But whoever wrote 
or believed this can hardly have been acquainted with the nature 
of the negotiations, which included the entire regulation of the 
relations between the State and the Church of Rome, or they 
would surely not have supposed that subjects of such magnitude, 
and on which so many conflicting opinions and interests had to be 
consulted, could be settled in the course of a few days. Neither 
was it generally known that Niebuhr had waited nearly four years 
for his instructions, and it was forgotten that the negotiations 
were carried on at a time of extraordinary difficulty. It is rather 
to be wondered that they should have been accomplished at all 
at such a time, and Niebuhr himself always ascribed it to the 
personal friendship of the Pope and Cardinal Gonsalvi. He says, 
in one of his letters, " I have purchased this termination of the 
business with the sacrifice of personal considerations, and resigned 
the appearance of having had the honor to accomplish it. The 
minister of ecclesiastical affairs, however, knows and acknowl- 
edges that it is no slight matter to have achieved within eight 
months, what other embassadors have been working at in vain 
for four years. And at what a moment were our negotiations 
carried on !" 

Niebuhr took an active part in the Topographical Description 
of Home, undertaken by Bunsen and Brandis, in conjunction with 
Cotta. The work was executed by Platner, Bunsen, and some 
others. Niebuhr sketched the plan of the work, and promised a 
chapter, giving a general account of the topography of ancient 
Rome ; but in the progress of the work, his assistance was claimed 
to a greater extent than he had foreseen, especially in all that 
related to antiquities. 

Letters written in 1821. 
CCLXXI. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Home, 10th February, 1821. 
I have only a few moments to write, but I must use them to tell you 
that, up to this time, no misfortune has befallen us, though the tidings that 



404 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

\ 

the Austrians had crossed the Po, arrived here so early as Tuesday, and 
must have reached Naples hy Wednesday morning. According to this ac- 
count, they might have been across the frontiers by this time. "We can 
not infer any thing as to our safety, from the fact that nothing has yet 
taken place ; but if another week pass over quietly, we are saved. 

We are not decided whether to fly to Civita Vecchia, if the Pope goes 
thither, or to stay here for the sake of our children and property. 

If regular troops come, I think we shall stay, but if mere rabble, we must 
certainly endeavor to escape. We hear that three French ships are com- 
ing to Civita Vecchia, on board which we shall be able to embark. 

The Austrians can not be before our gates, at the earliest, sooner than 
the 22d instant. How we long now for the days to pass over ! And thus 
iife speeds away ! 

I gave Stein a beautiful entertainment yesterday, in which the singers of 
the Pope's chapel performed ancient music. 

I have been much cheered by receiving a letter from old Peyron, at Turin, 
which he means to publish himself, and in which he not only quite takes 
my part, but attests that he did not discover the point in question till 
September, &c* 

CCLXXII. 

Rome, 17th March, 1821. 
It must be three weeks since I last wrote to you. Even then, our im- 
mediate apprehensions and fears had been removed ; only it hardly seem- 
ed possible that the war in Naples should not, at least to some extent, be 
carried on with the savage fury of a war of opinion ; and as the means of 
attack would in that case be insufficient, we could not feel quite easy re- 
specting our position. Never have more brilliant speeches been made than 
at Naples; the foreigners, especially the young men who had listened to 
the orations, were quite carried away, and saw in these Polichinellos the 
heroes of antiquity risen again. I, and all others who knew the Italians, 
made, indeed, great deductions, and thought very lightly of the moral 
worth of those who delivered these splendid orations ; but still we fancied 
it possible that the sectarian organization in particular might have enkindled 
a fanaticism, which the extraordinarily ill-judged proceedings on the other 
side could not fail greatly to promote. That the whole had been such a 
mere miserable piece of lies and mouthing, no one ever dreamed. Even 
the official reports do not place the matter in so strong a light as truth 
deserves. In the engagement of Rieti, each side may have lost, perhaps, 
from fifty to seventy men. As the Austrians were very weak, they were 
not even able to pursue the enemy ; and after this affair the whole army 
of General Pepe dispersed so completely, that only a part of two regiments 
which had not been in the engagement, but stood at some distance, threw 
themselves into Pescara; Pepe himself arrived at Castel Saegro on the 
11th, without a single soldier. Between Rieti and Aquila there are three 
formidable passes, Borghetto, Antrodoco, and Madonna di Grotta, where a 
handful of men could arrest an army. These were left so completely un- 
defended, that the Austrians had only one man wounded, and their oppo- 
nents not more. The Neapolitans help themselves with their Italian un- 
truthfulness, and are not ashamed nor afraid to say in their journals, that 
* Referring to the dispute with Mai. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1821. 405 

Antrodoco was taken by superior numbers, after a most heroic resistance. 
To-morrow, or at furthest the day after, the other army on the Garigliano 
will be attacked. It is already much weakened by desertion, at least, com- 
pared to what it ought to be to resist the attacking army, and all accounts 
agree in stating that the soldiers will not fight, and that the militia are only 
waiting for an opportunity to disband and run home. The corps, of which 
we may assume that they consist of Carbonari, those, for instance, under 
Avellmo and Salerno, show themselves just as cowardly, and desert just as 
much as the rest ; indeed, they were the first to set the example. Those 
with the high-sounding names — the Sacred Squadron, the modern Fabii, 
the three hundred Bruttii, who had entreated the privilege of occupying the 
posts of greatest danger, have never made their appearance at all, but have 
completely dispersed themselves. 

One trait more. The robbers, who a short time since carried off the boys 
belonging to the Seminarium at Terracina, and murdered two of them in cold 
blood, after having received three thousand piastres for their ransom, have 
been pardoned, and formed into a corps ; their chief had made it an indis- 
pensable condition that the regimental band should conduct him from Fondi, 
and this has been done. Between Aquila and Rieti, the Neapolitan troops 
have plundered every thing in their own country, not only in their flight, 
but also on the march home. 

A very different event from the miserable Neapolitan revolution, which 
ten thousand men could have put down in September (even now only five 
battalions have been under fire), is the revolt in Piedmont, which we learnt 
yesterday, just when we thought that the termination of the first farce had 
secured our safety for the remainder of our stay here. The Piedmontese 
are a brave and estimable people, but fearfully passionate, and we can not 
conceal from ourselves that this incident may lead to incalculable conse- 
quences. The Austrians were only prevented by an accident from opening 
the campaign a week sooner ; had they done so (since the result would no 
doubt have been the same), one might wager any thing that the conspirators 
in Piedmont would have relinquished their enterprise. God knows what it 
will come to now ! 

When you see the blind political faith of young men, in other respects 
well meaning and intelligent, you can not help perceiving that with this 
generation wisdom itself could not succeed in averting a revolution. But 
the course along which their blindness impels them is one, at the end of 
which, as has been truly said by M. Von Stein, the Jews will be the ruling 
class, the husbandman a clown, and the artisan a bungler ; where all ties 
will be dissolved, and the sword alone will be the ultimate authority ; but 
for poor Germany, it will be the sword of the foreigners, who will divide 
her. 

The time is gradually approaching, when the strangers woixld forsake 
Rome and we should have quiet, if revolution and war were not raging 
around us. Still, I will not despair of being able to return afterward to 
quiet and my salutary studies. At all events, the festivities and parties 
are leaving off, with which we occupied ourselves at a time when every one 
ought to retire into the most solemn silence. Stein will probably remain 
here another month. All his old affection for me has re- awakened, and mine 
was easily revived, so that we are on a footing of cordial friendship. Old 
age becomes him well, and I can only think of him with tender sadness ; it is 



406 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

most likely- the last time that we shall see each other, and I thank God 
that we have met thus. 

The children are well and good. Marcus seemed for a time inclined to 
be delicate. Perhaps I worked his head too hard : I have relaxed a little 
in this respect. The difficulties of reading are overcome ; and if the love 
of reading awakens later in him than in me, I shall not consider it any 
misfortune to him. 

Gretchen suffers again from time to time with her eyes, and does so at 
the present moment. How are all your people? I think of them with 
anxiety. God protect you ! 

You will most likely have learnt from the journals that the Chancellor 
of State has arrived here, accompanied by officers of his department. I 
only heard of it two days before his arrival. I have given him a splendid 
entertainment, which I dare say he would very willingly have dispensed 
with ; but if it had not been done all the world would have censured me. 
Thus are we obliged to plague each other, out of conventionalism and polite- 
ness ! He will leave again in four or five days. Bartholdy was in Naples, 
but has been summoned. 

I have heard from Sch , who accompanies Hardenberg, that the 

clergyman at Sesenheim was his uncle, and had four daughters ; the un- 
happy, but universally beloved, Frederike died a few years ago. Her 
brother, a respectable clergyman, is also dead. She lived to see the pub- 
lication of Goethe's life ; whether she read it, he does not know. 

CCLXXIII. 

TO NICOLOVIUS. 

Rome, 28tk March, 1821. 

Dearest friend, embrace me ; the negotiation is concluded, concluded 
with success, and now we are proceeding to draw up the bull, which I hope 
will be issued in a month. May Heaven only guide the thoughts of Mon- 
signor M. by a right lively representation of the more or less costly snuff- 
box that awaits him, and direct both our pens, so that no outcry may be 
raised against the bull at the last moment! You will learn every thing 
through Count Bernstorf. 

Hardenberg's journey hither has really been a blessing ; it cost me nothing 
more than the sacrifice of allowing him to take the credit of having brought 
the affair to a settlement. And as he will thereby be bound to its execution 
and results, I incited Cardinal Gonsalvi to speak to him in my presence, as 
if it were his work, and to express it in his note. 

Now, when the matter has to be carried out, your ministry can do much ; 
and I have assured the Pope that he may rely upon honest intentions. 

Only above all make haste with all your proposals respecting appoint- 
ments. That the Roman cabinet have accepted so long a delay is a brill- 
iant proof of the confidence which they place in our good-will. 

Your letter, my dear friend, belongs to the rewards which Heaven has 
accorded to my efforts. I thank you a thousand times for it in my own 
and Gretchen's name. But I always stand in such deep self-abasement 
before your humility, and your over-estimate of me. "What am I ? a de- 
cayed wreck. If it were not for the children I should sigh, my God, when 
wilt thou break it up ! 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1821. 407 

However, I rejoice in the success of my undertaking. I began it with- 
out any hope of attaining my end. Now we are the first in the field. 

How long I shall remain here, as my presence will soon be no longer 
necessary (1 allow to myself that it has been useful, that with the same 
instructions the business might have foundered), who can tell? For now 
I can take my leave with a good conscience, if I meet with any new de- 
goiits. I have begged the Chancellor — and I think it will tally with your 
wishes — to have a large picture painted by the very eminent artist, Philip 
Veit, as a present to the cathedral of Cologne, on occasion of the restora- 
tion of the Archbishopric. I should propose to Veit, as a subject, either 
the presentation of the relics of the Three Kings to the deputies of Cologne 
by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, after the taking of Milan, or the 
Vision of Count William of Julich. 

I can not give any orders for pictures now, for I give all that I can spare 
to my poor dear S.* How I should like to see him a bishop ! 

As soon as the bull has been dispatched, I shall hasten to Naples. At 
present, you can have an Austrian escort for the whole distance, and Gen- 
eral Frimont will no doubt, in case of necessity, open every thing that 
would otherwise be inaccessible to me, with his grenadiers. 

The issue of events at Naples has exhibited the baseness of these Ital- 
ians in its proper colors. Their sole moral incentive is vanity, and vanity 
is not bullet-proof. 

It would be different in Spain, and yet even there you might demolish 
every thing with thirty thousand men. 

We have disgraceful contemporaries. Our poor children ! We rejoice 
heartily as your true friends in all the good news that you tell us of your 
family, and mourn in sympathy with our dear friends the Goschens. 

Accept love yourself from Gretchen, and give our united kind regards to 
yoiu family and all friends. Excuse haste, and embrace me once more. 

Your faithful Niebuhr. 

CCLXXIV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 1th April, 1821. 

It grieved me much not to write to you last week, but it was impossi- 
ble. Happily, you could not have made yourself anxious about us for 
some time past. But I should so have liked to have written to you, be- 
cause I was full of joy at having concluded my important negotiations on 
ecclesiastical affairs ; concluded, not so but that there is much to do in 
carrying out details, but still so far that we have come to an agreement on 
all essential points, and only some quite unforeseen circumstance, such as, 
for instance, the death of the Pope before the completion of the bulls, could 
interfere with the matter. 

Now since we must assume that good may arise from this settlement — 
and at least it is certain that the prolongation of the present state of things 
would involve actual evil — it would have been very painful to me if I had 
not been able to accomplish this business. And how often, and for how 
many reasons this seemed likely ! 

It contributes to improve my position as regards the social annoyances 
which I have to suffer even now from the impertinence of a few fools, that 
* Schmieder. 



408 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the Emperor of Austria has presented me with the grand cross of the Leo 
pold Order. You know that probably there are not many who care less 
about these things than myself, and that I know what is true honor. 
Would to God that I had never been placed in any position where this is 
insufficient ! But I have been drifted into another sphere, and am com- 
pelled to live among people, to whom all that would have secured me due 
appreciation among the highest class, counts for nothing ; who, in fact, 
rather deem my learning and studies unbecoming my position, and a thing 
to be pardoned. In this place I have gradually worked my way up to in- 
fluence and consideration, and have not often occasion to feel the want of 
it ; still indications are now and then given, and were formerly much more 
frequently perceptible, of contempt for my station and plain name, which 
will be put an end to by such marks of distinction. Had not Count Bla- 
cas.* who is regarded in Germany as the most extreme aristocrat, dis- 
played the most friendly feeling toward me from the very beginning of my 
residence here, and treated me quite as his equal, my position in these cir- 
cles as a commoner would have been much more unpleasant even than it 
has been. 

Stein has given me his portrait. It is a drawing, and very like him. 
He much preferred my house to any other during his stay here. Old age 
has made him very amiable. May his remaining years be happy ! When 
he bid Marcus good-night yesterday evening, he kissed and stroked him; 
I remember that his own children only used to kiss his hand. Thank God 
that I shall part from him with this remembrance ! To-morrow, I shall 
accompany him at his request as far as Tivoli. 

Marcus is losing his robust appearance; he has no signs of ill-health; 
still it makes me uneasy. 

The editor of the "Independente," one of the most violent Neapolitan 
journals, is now contractor for the Austrian army. Thus do these fellows 
change their colors when they see any advantage to be gained by it 

CCLXXV. 

Rome, 28th April, 1821. 

Last week I received your letter, in which you speak of the anxiety that 
the Piedmontese insurrection has caused you on our account. Your care 
for us has touched me deeply. 

The occurrences in Piedmont appear to us of importance, only because 
we know that they owe their origin to the leaders of the Left in France, 
and that there was a wish to make the experiment of a revolution in France 
itself. The plans for such an event had been so completely worked out. 
that in a letter from Madrid of the 24th of March, which has been delayed 
on the road and has only just been communicated to me, it is stated that 
this revolution has been arranged with the knowledge and sympathy of the 
heads of the Cortes, and in particular of the Count Toreno, and would 
break out in a few days, if it had not broken out already. 

For the rest, I should have expected that the Piedmontese would have 
shown firmness in the execution of their rash enterprise ; but although the 
conspirators were numerous, considered as such, they formed an infinitely 
small part of the nation, which did not expect any good from the hands of 
dissolute and frivolous young officers, nor from any of these ambitious men. 
* The French embassador. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1821. 409 

Thus these good-for-nothing fellows have brought an inexpressible calamity 
on their country, in the shape of foreign occupation, and the exchange of 
a narrow-minded but honest and well-intentioned king, for a prince who 
will not govern mildly. Who would have thought that we should live to 
sec those revolts of arrogant soldiers, who, after giving away thrones, fled, 
or practiced some new treachery, which characterize the worst periods of 
ancient history, and were hitherto unknown in recent times ? 

The Spanish ships which took on board the fugitives from Naples, have 
landed them at Ischia, probably because they had no money. In Spain, 
the minister of finance has detected the greatest dishonesty in his pre- 
decessor, and the deficit is estimated at 28,000,000 piastres ! And this 
is the minister of finance on account of whose removal, with his col- 
leagues, the Cortes wished to excite a new revolution, and may perhaps 
do it yet ! 

It is true that in most places it is only evil in conflict with evil, but that 
evil which establishes its empire with the utmost tyranny, and founds its 
right on false pretensions to moral and intellectual eminence, is far more 
hateful to me, because far more pernicious, than that which takes its stand, 
almost stupidly and without thought, on possession, and for the rest, inter- 
feres with no one else in his possessions. The quiet of summer is now 
approaching, and the crowd of foreigners is dispersing. Stein is gone to 
Naples 

CCLXXVI. 

Alba.no, llth May, 1821. 
I have formed a very interesting acquaintance with Lord Col- 
chester; indeed, it has come to that mutual feeling of attachment which 
the acquaintanceships formed in later life seldom exceed. With me he 
threw off his usual silence and reserve. He earnestly wishes that I might 
come to London as embassador ; but even if this could be brought about, I 
feel that the whole mode of life involved by such a vocation is injurious 
to me. 

I think I have never told you, that in the beginning of the winter, the 
celebrated Countess of Albany, Alfieri's friend, born Princess Stolberg, was 
here; she is intellectual enough to make it worth one's while to become 
acquainted with her. What has reminded me of it is, that the Pretender, 
her husband, once fitted up and lived in the house which we are now occu- 
pying at Albano. After I had seen her, I made a good many inquiries 
about her, and certainly learnt much that justifies what we are so often 
compelled to feel, namely, that eminent and varied talents by no means 
always coincide with moral worth. Her husband abandoned himself to 
drinking, because she drove him to despair by her infatuation for Alfieri ; 
and she did not even remain faithful to Alfieri to the last, although she has 
erected a magnificent monument to his memory with the ostentation of the 
widow of a celebrated man. Though very old now, you may still call her 
beautiful 

CCLXXVII. 

Rome, llth August, 1821. 
This time I have long remained in your debt for your last dear letter, and 
yet it is long since any letter has rejoiced me so much.. 

S 



410 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

The childien are my delight, and when one has seen them in danger, 
one's anxiety lasts long after the danger is over. Marcus has not indeed got 
rid of his complaint, and the least trifle aggravates it ; still he has much 
improved, and is gaining flesh. Our Amelia has heen threatened with an 
attack of dysentery lately, but the danger has been averted. Amelia, too, 
clings to us now much more than she did, and is growing a very sweet 
child ; her obstinacy is gradually giving way, and she is learning to obey 
without ill-humor. We do not tease her with lessons yet, and it will be a 
great difficulty with her, too ; she is so lively and volatile. Marcus could 
learn any thing if he did not prefer any kind of motion to sitting still. We 
talk German with him a good deal now, and he understands every thing. 
Lucia runs alone, and is very quick. She is very fond of her brother. 

Certainly, my attention, too, is fixed upon Greece. I curse Ypsilanti's 
enterprise, which has sacrificed the lives of thousands in vain, and aban- 
doned many to a still worse fate. God grant that the Emperor Alexander 
may fulfill his noble idea of taking nothing for himself, but founding an in- 
dependent State there, against whose existence no one could have the face 
to raise an opposition. Meanwhile, there is only one form under which the 
Greeks and the other tribes can have a national existence — that of anti- 
quity and the middle ages, a sovereign whose powers are undefined, but 
who allows each tribe and each community to do what they think best with 
respect to their internal affairs, on condition that they perform fixed ser- 
vices in war, and pay certain imposts. It would be a most important and 
advantageous revolution for Europe. Millions could settle in the waste 
lands of the most highly -favored countries, and the emigration now turned 
toward America, and lost to Europe, might create a new source of strength 
to the latter. Who knows how far into the interior Asia might not become 
European in time ? 

CCLXXVIII. 

Rome, 16th August, 1821. 
I only write to you to-day to impart my consolation to you. If I can 
think of any thing besides my boy, it is the reports from the Archipelago. 
We have as yet no certainty that the report of the naval battle before 
Mitylene is true ; but the accounts of it from Corfu are of a character that 
renders it credible. If so, though these Greek mariners, taken singly, are 
nothing better than pirates, and no one who loves his life will embark in a 
ship of Hydra with any tempting property, I respect them notwithstanding, 
and begin to expect something from them. The deed must prove the man. 
It was the Dutch corsairs, accustomed to plunder friend and foe, who, in 
1572, took Briel, and founded the republic. A Greek republic is a chimera, 
but a State may very likely spring up there ; and my imagination pursues 
the endless developments of the events which may result from the dissolu- 
tion of the Turkish empire, and the opening of Asia Minor and Syria to 
European colonization. Only I do not see how a nation like the Greeks 
will allow themselves to be governed. If you attempt to make them Eu- 
ropean, they will become absolutely worthless. I imagine German colonies in 
Bithynia, &c. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1821. 411 

CCLXXIX. 

TO NICOLOVIUS. 

Rome, \5lh September, 1821. 
I give you my special thanks for the first volume of Hamann's* writ- 
ings. that I may not have to receive the rest in this den ! You can 
not imagine how painfully we lonely and forsaken creatures feel the want 
of any one with whom we can hold a conversation ; how often, of a Sunday 
evening for instance, we are reminded that we are in Tomi, and sigh, Oh, 
if we could but have the Goschens, Nicolovius, or Savigny with us for an 
evening ! Hamann's writings make me feel the want of you with tenfold 
acuteness, though one evening would not be sufficient to say all we should 
have to say about them. He who looks on every thing from a historical 
point of view, finds himself in a former and remarkable world as he reads 
them. It is another question — and one which before I was acquainted with 
these writings, I had not expected to find myself forced to ask — whether 
their publication is likely to prove beneficial — I mean with a public such 
as ours is at the present day. For the moment, a certain coquetting with 
pietism seems to be in fashion with a considerable number of the younger 
generation — not altogether from hypocrisy and vanity, but with very few 
from inward and honest feeling. Our age demands glaring colors and shrill 
sounds, now of one kind, now of another. This fashion will not last long, 
but the moment is unfavorable for the appearance of any thing that gives it 
authority, because people do not understand such a work. But my anxiety 
extends beyond the present moment ; I fear lest the generation, who can 
not in the least understand Hamann and the times in which he flourished, 
should take lasting offense at this representation of a rude and shaggy 
form. I had not read the biography, when I expressed the wish that it 
might appear as it was ; and never dreamed of the publication of a corre- 
spondence such as that with Lindner. I confess to you that I would now 
give much, that any one who was competent — you above all — should have 
worked up the two, the biography and the letters, into a single life of 
Hamann, by which means much that must now be misunderstood by nine 
hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand, would have been rendered in- 
telligible, and much that is painful would have been avoided. Few will 
know how Hamann — evidently from his very childhood — grew up and took 
root in the poetical pietism then prevailing at Konigsberg ; and how in the 
crisis that took place in him in London, such a religion might rise even to 
fanaticism and fierceness, without the slightest admixture of affectation, 
and should remain the permanent key-note of his soul. Does it displease 
you, my friend, that I say even to fierceness ? I confess to you that this is 
my feeling with regard to his connection with the Behrens family, and for 
my justification let me tell you, that Gretchen's feelings recoil from it no 

* Hamann was a celebrated and profound, but obscure writer on theological 
and philosophical subjects, of the last century, and an opponent of Kant ; he was 
born, and spent the great part of his life in Konigsberg, and was an intimate 
friend of Herder and Jacobi, on the former of whom, especially, he exercised 
great influence in early life. The character of his theology is sufficiently ap- 
parent from Niebuhr's letters. His detached Essays and Letters have been 
collected and published by Roth, 1821-1825. He never wrote any comprehens- 
ive work. To characterize at once his almost prophetical insight, and the 
obscurity of his style, he was called the Magus of the North. 



412 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR, 

less than my own. This renunciation of all gratitude, these despotic pre- 
tensions, this excessive petulance, appear to us merely other phases of the 
demoniacal nature which appears in such a fearful shape in G., indeed, 
still more frightful, because the conscience of the man who has abandoned 
himself to these impulses, approves his conduct and confirms him in it. I 
turn now to another consideration. If all extraordinary persons were ex- 
hibited to the very recesses of their soul, by the publication of their corre- 
spondence, they would be as it were on a footing of equality, and one might 
let one after another appear, without lowering any relatively. As it is, 
this is not the case ; indeed, I say, God be thanked that it is not ! It is 
not well that the world should see into the inmost soul of every man, and 
both the world and history would be unendurable if it could. There are 
garments of the soul which you should no more strip off than those of the 
body ; and a biography that vails nothing is neither right nor wholesome. 
In one respect, at least, this history when understood clearly, and in its 
details is useful — that it teaches us how even the greatest and most ex- 
alted spirits of our human race are ignorant how accidentally their eye 
has assumed the form through which they see, while from the extreme 
intensity of their consciousness, they authoritatively demand that every 
one shall see as they do. He who has not recognized this quite distinctly 
and in many instances, may be subjugated by the presence of a mighty 
intellect, that casts the most intense passion into a given form ; and the 
immediate contemplation of the daily intellectual life of a powerful man, 
has all the injurious effect upon an immature mind, of novel-reading upon 
a weak girl. The most captivating novels are those which are wholly or 
mostly written in the form of letters. It is these which stir the emotions, 
and historical composition which deserves the name, speaks in discourses ; 
it is not the actions, but the speeches and the thought, which touch our 
hearts. If I had the energy which I have not, I would, if only by way of 
proof, relate what might inflame the imagination in the most dangerous 
way, so that it should not move you ; and then again, sway the imagina- 
tion of my readers so that they should espouse the party of Marius or 
Sulla ; so that they should not scruple at the bloodshed, but have the 
guilt of all that flowed upon their consciences 

CCLXXX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 29lh September, 1821. 

Your last letter affected me deeply in more than one way. When we 
can ho longer attain, or no longer endure a life of exciting emotion and 
action, the only thing left us to wish for is peace and quiet. This applies 
to me personally, as well as to public life at the present day. 

I meant to write to you a short time ago about Hamann's works, and 
the impression they made upon me. Hitherto our feelings have harmon- 
ized, or if not at first, have, with very rare exceptions, been brought into 
harmony when we have explained ourselves. I was anxious to know 
whether our inward agreement would be interrupted on this remarkable 
occasion. I hope not. You will doubtless have read bis writings. Now, 
I ask you, do you sympathize with them ? Are you glad to possess them ? 

Much about Hamann has been made clearer to me. I understand now 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1821. 413 

the origin of the first, and perhaps the most remarkable of his writings, of 
which 1 before knew nothing. But it was not enough for me to perceive 
that the original mould of his mind was that of a giant, who had survived 
a perished race, and lived on in an utterly different age of the world ? It 
was indeed necessary to know something of that earlier race, and to un- 
derstand how it lived in the pietism, which, in Konigsberg, more than any 
where else, had acquired a strong and living power over men ; the traces 
and traditions of which we see in Hippel's writings, and amidst whose in- 
fluences Hamann too grew up. 

But what do we gain by the publishing of his life and letters? Or, 
rather, how much Jo we not lose by the dispersion of the mist that con- 
cealed the personality of this mysterious man ? We see a young man, 
whose aspirations and struggles the present generation will not be able to 
understand nor even to divine, giving a loose to his inclinations, neglect- 
ing, in the most careless and unconscientious manner, his obligations to- 
ward his unselfish and loving friends, swimming with the stream of his 
passions, and when at last, the difficulties of his desperate position recall 
his earlier pietistic feelings, yet not led back by them in the least to his 
duties toward his fellow-creatures. We see him, on his return, despising 
the same friends in his spiritual pride, accepting their benefits while hating 
and condemning them, yet still reserving the privilege of returning to them, 
whenever necessity may drive him to such a course. Apart from all the 
unhappy influences which this book may and will exercise over perverted 
minds, allowing that such temporary effects are not to be taken into ac- 
count (which I am less willing to concede the older I become, and the 
longer and more attentively I regard the varied forms which perverted 
views assume), how does he appear to us? As a man possessed by a 
demon, who believes himself called to rule despotically. From his earliest 
childhood, he had been accustomed to this pietistic interpretation of the 
Bible, to look on it as a handbook for every event of life ; in moments 
when his whole nature had been overwhelmed by distress, difficulty, and 
remorse, it had seized hold of his mind with a force which influenced his 
whole life ; but this supposed sanctification had no effect on his actions. 
The correctness of these views of the Scriptures is not affected in the 
slightest degree, practically or historically, by this Life. God grant that 
no one may assert that it is ! His mind was beyond all question one of 
the deepest and most powerful that Germany ever produced, and his say- 
ings, clothed in the language which had become a second nature to him, 
assumed the coloring and mystery of oracles. The unfettered mind, which 
is neither frightened nor enslaved by formulas, extracts the living power 
from these oracular sayings, without regard to their form, which it is ab- 
solutely impossible for any man fully to accept, unless he has a peculiar 
cast of thought, and has been brought up in a peculiar atmosphere. Now, 
however, it is made clear to us, that Hamann himself regarded this form 
as the true essence, and thus we have become vitally estranged from him. 
No one perhaps can fully comprehend how fearful this pietism is, who has 
not often been forced to hear that all human virtues are damnable, nay, 
are even dangerous, and that the most sinful human being who has true 
faith in Christ's redemption, stands infinitely nearer to the Saviour, than 
the man who is, according to human ideas, the noblest and most virtuous, 
but without that self-loathing. 



414 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

I maintain that, aa a general rule, the letters which lay bare the inmost 
being of an extraordinary, but not saintlike man, should never be pub- 
lished. For his sake they ought not to be given to the world, because it 
is not good nor just to exhibit one isolated soul naked, while the immense 
majority are not so ; nor for the sake of others, because what is concealed 
by the relations of life ought not to be laid bare. Why was not his life 
written as it might have been told ? 

The most remarkable part of the book to me is that passage from St. 
Augustine, which I must either have passed over, or not yet comprehend- 
ed, when I read the Confessions. I would recommend it to the considera- 
tion of those who would restore the Church by means of outward formulas. 
Let them reflect why it was, that the most profound among all the Fathers 
wished so to express himself on mattecs of doctrine, that every man might 
find his own belief, if it were not an utterly false one, in his words. 

I have "now begun to teach Marcus Latin by conversation, and he learns 
very well 

CCLXXXI. 

Rome, %9th December, 1821. 

For the sixth time we are ending our year at Rome. Meanwhile time 
exercises his power, and without ceasing to be, and to feel ourselves stran- 
gers in this place, we are also becoming estranged from our own country. 
Thus life passes away, and one feels that it passes miserably ; and yet I 
can not agree with the pious persons who call life a miserable thing in it- 
self. I know, on the contrary, that it becomes miserable only through oui 
own follies, faults, and weaknesses •, and that a life wrought into beauty 

and harmony is a blessing possible not merely in dreams During 

this winter my health has not been worth much, though I could not exact- 
ly call myself ill. I want the refreshment of sympathy, without which I 
always feel exhausted, and can not be really healthy, and which in itself 
is a sufficient recompense to me for some degree of physical indisposition. 

It gives me very great pleasure that you agree with me as to the 

publication of Hamann's letters. It struck me, too, how deeply-rooted 
the acquaintanceships of his youth must have been. At that time there 
was nothing in Germany but oak trees and creepers ; now there are only 
half-grown trees, blown awry by the winds. 



1822. 



In February, 1822, Niebuhr's wife bore him a third daughter. 
Since the chief object of his mission was now attained, and the 
health of his wife rather grew worse than better, he determined 
to request his recall. The Minister of his department advised 
him, however, in the first instance, only to ask for a year's fur- 
lough, and thus to leave the way open for his return, if he should 
think it desirable at the end of that time. And certainly, as far 



EMBASSY TO ROME. 415 

as he was personally concerned, he might probably have remain- 
ed many years longer in Rome, as is shown by his letters of the 
preceding year. He had become acclimatized, and accustomed 
to the mode of life in Rome, and now looked forward to a time 
of greater repose, in which he might devote himself with zeal to 
his studies. For, however far his course of life might seem to 
carry him from his own peculiar pursuits, he always retained his 
old partiality for them, and anticipated some future time when he 
might return to them. His high views of their true principles 
and method may be seen from a letter, inserted at the close of the 
extracts belonging to this year, and entitled — " A letter to a young 
man who wished to devote himself to Philology." It was written 
m the course of this summer, and addressed to a young friend of 
his, whom he believed to be pursuing an erroneous path. 

In August, 1822, Niebuhr had to engage in a very unpleasant 
contest on behalf of the Protestants living in Rome. A blindly 
fanatical, priestly party, was bent on the demolition of the Protest- 
ant burial-ground. Niebuhr felt himself bound to resist this out- 
rage to the feelings of his fellow-worshipers with all his might, 
and to assist his friend Lord Colchester, who shared his efforts in 
the cause. He spent part of this summer in Albano, and made 
a little excursion besides to Tivoli, with Chevalier Bunsen and M. 
Lieber, whom, on his return from Greece, he had engaged as tu- 
tor to his son. 

In November, the King of Prussia paid a short visit to Rome, 
with a small retinue. Niebuhr and Baron Alexander von Hum- 
boldt accompanied him to the most celebrated spots in the city 
and its neighborhood. Several of Niebuhr' s old friends were in 
the King's suite, so that he had the satisfaction of renewing his 
intercourse with them for a short interval. 

He also derived much enjoyment this winter from the society 
of Messrs. Pertz and Bluhme, who had been sent to Rome to 
prosecute researches into ancient MSS., and were able to enter 
into the literary subjects which engaged Niebuhr's attention. 

Meanwhile, Niebuhr sent in a request, agreeably to the advice 
of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, that he might either be recall- 
ed, or receive leave of absence in the following spring. The lat- 
ter was granted him, and he thankfully accepted it, although he 
was persuaded that his wife's state of health, as well as his views 
with regard to their son, would prevent him from ever returning 



416 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

to Rome. The child's attachment to the place was so great, as 
to make his father fear that if he remained longer there, he would 
never feel at home in Germany. This consideration, joined to 
the difficulty of educating him in Rome in the manner he wished 
and intended, had a great influence upon Niebuhr's decision not 
to return thither. Indeed, after he became a father, Niebuhr 
considered the training of his children, especially of his son, as the 
most imperative duty of his life, to which all other considerations, 
except that of very evident and important service to his country, 
ought to be subordinated. In ordinary times, he placed private 
duties above public ones. No one, who has read his life thus far, 
will suspect him of undervaluing the latter. 

Before leaving Italy Niebuhr wished to see Naples, and to take 
leave of his friend De Serre, who was now embassador at that 
court. As the time of his departure drew near, Niebuhr felt how 
much it cost him to forsake Rome. There was, indeed, much in 
his circumstances that did not harmonize with his peculiar tastes ; 
but, on the other hand, he felt that he was giving up an indepen- 
dent, and in many respects advantageous position, and entering 
on a period of uncertainty. 

Thus, but for the sake of his family, he would not have quitted 
Rome for ever. His friends and children exclaim with sorrow, 
" Oh that he had remained, and then perhaps he would yet be 
spared to us !" 

Letters written in 1822. 
CCLXXXII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 19th January, 1822. 

We have daily proofs of Marcus's noble nature ; still I am well 

aware that this affords us no guarantee unless it be guided with the most 
watchful care. I trust he will never turn out a conceited, shallow fool, 
nor a man who is himself contented with superficiality, and assumes an 
appearance to throw dust in the eyes of others. I could never be consoled, 
if I were one day to see him go out into the world as an arrogant young 
collegian, or an empty blockhead and shallow prater, or as a vain fool 
seeking to make himself of importance, not by real ability, but by means 
of unwarranted pretensions or affectation, which is the case with so many 
of our young people nowadays. Either they are puffed up with conceit, 
and want to make reforms, and think themselves qualified to pronounce 
on all subjects, and look down on people the latchet of whose shoe they 
are not worthy to unloose ; or if they do not belong to this party, they 
know nothing, learn nothing, can not set about any thing with earnestness 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1822. 417 

and capability, and assume the show of refinement — of course only on the 
outside — and think that if they can but shine in their own opinion, and in 
the empty assemblies of fashionable life, they will have gained all they need, 
and are perfectly prepared to take a standing in the world. I succeed with 
teaching as well as 1 could have ventured to hope. He already knows no 
inconsiderable number of Latin words, and he understands grammar so well 
that I can now set him to learn parts of the conjugations without their 
teasing him like dead matter ; he divines many of the forms, from his own 
feeling. 1 am reading with him selected chapters from Hygin's Mytholo- 
gicum — a book which, perhaps, it is not easy to use for this purpose, and 
which yet is more suited to it than any other, from the absence of formal 
periods, and the interest of the narrative. For German, I write fragments 
of the Greek mythology for him. I began with the history of the Argo- 
nauts ; I have now got to the history of Hercules. I give every thing in 
a very free and picturesque style, so that it is as exciting as poetry to him ; 
and, in fact, he reads it with such delight that we are often interrupted by 
his cries of joy. The child is quite devoted to me ; but this educating costs 
me a great deal of time. However, I have had my share of life, and I 
shall consider it as a reward for my labors if this young life be as fully 
and richly developed as lies within my power. 

Unexpected thoughts often escape him. Two days ago he was sitting 
beside me, and began — " Father, the ancients believed in the old gods ; 
but still they believed also in the true God. The old gods were just like 
men." 



CCLXXXIII. 

Rome, 6^ April, 1822. 

Again your longed-for letter has failed to reach me 

Marcus is reading Diodati's beautiful (Protestant) Bible (the Gospels), 
and he reads it with lively interest. He draws very carefully. 

I spoke to you, a little while ago, of the ill-fated men who are return- 
ing in shoals from Greece. Till now. my intercourse with them has been 
almost confined to one individual, who is a very well-intentioned youth, a 
Rhinelander, who had served in the Landwehr. He and a few Saxons 
curse the pamphlets, and all the rest of the rhodomontade, which had de- 
luded them into the idea, that a Greek army of 30,000 men was in the 
field, and only required to be officered, &c. They found no army, and 
instead of receiving any pay, were obliged to sell every thing they had for 
the necessaries of life. Their presence was not all desired, and they might 
thank God if they could but find means to get back again. My acquaint- 
ances confess that I told them all this beforehand ; thus, for instance, that, 
by Greek soldiers, they must only understand associated bands of Klephthi 
(robbers), who would be joined in certain cases by the peasantry; — by 
their commanders, bandit chieftains, who would be equally avaricious and 
bloodthirsty, to whom it was absurd to offer their services, except for the 
artillery ; who absolutely could not afford to pay a single man, and who 
would distrust every body. Nevertheless, I wish them, from my heart, 
every blessing and success. One must be a fool to expect virtuous heroism 
from them, and a cold politician of the present day to surrender them to 
extermination. 

s* 



418 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

CCLXXXIV. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Romz, 23d May, 1822. 

Your work,* my friend, was a real refreshment to me ; somewhat such 
as it would be to see you here, where I have none of the interchange of 
thought, to which I had been so habituated, and on which I am so depend- 
ent. In this respect, believe me, you could not have a duller life in the 
most stupid little country town, than I lead here, leaving Bunsen out of the 
question. That I read your book immediately, from beginning to end, and 
some parts of it repeatedly, it is needless to say ; and yet I must say it ; and 
likewise, that it answers my expectations, and that I honor you all the more 
for it, because I could not write any thing like it myself. I can not honor 
any man for writing what I could have written myself— only appreciate 
him, and allow that he is not less than I am. Understand me, this is no 
pride ; so far from it, it is my honest feeling that a man is little enough if 
he can do no more than I, since I feel how infinitely more I could do if I 
had acquired more correct notions of facts when I possessed my full powers, 
and if I had not wasted my opportunities so dreadfully. You have opened 
quite a new world to me, and I believe to all your readers, by your account 
of academical institutions in the Middle Ages ; for this very reason I have 
nothing to say to you on that subject, but turn to other topics which are 
not so foreign to me.f 

It is possible that I may have written something like this to you years 
ago, but I think scarcely in so distinct a form. The union was effected 
every where in Italy in an extremely rough and unskillful manner ; with 
much more dexterity in many of the German Imperial towns, where the 
relations [between the orders] were precisely the same ; and, besides, the 
German nobles were much more honorable and obedient to the laws than 
the Italian ones, who allowed themselves the most criminal license, while 
the burgher class were also a worthless set. For Italy has been an infer- 
nal pool, from the Middle Ages to the present time, as it was from the 
Empire to the Middle Ages. It is a strange thing how any one can get 
up any enthusiasm for the Italian republics. Head Varchi's History (which, 
by the way, is one of the most picturesque, consequently most perfect, in 
existence ; so that the reader, particularly if he have visited Florence, for- 
gets every thing around him, and can live the whole day through among 
those of whom he is reading), and you will find it conceivable how Fr. 
Guicciardini should have made those Machiavellian projects to render the 
revival of the republic impossible, which make our hair stand on end. It 
is nevertheless true that it was Satan and Beelzebub striving together ; 
that this does not make the cause of the Medici a good one, and shall not 
prevent us from honoring Francisco Ferrucci. 

Let me always write down these digressions as if we were talking to- 
gether, and remember my fondness for entering into the views of all par- 
ties, and being guided by none, not even in history. 

* Savigny's "History of Jurisprudence during the Middle Ages," — his princi- 
pal work. 

t The portion here omitted treats of the constitution of the towns in Ger- 
many and Italy in the Middle Ages, and the gradual fusion and organization of 
the various elements of which their population was composed. 



LETTERS FROM ROME iN 1822. 419 

In passing, I must also tell you, or rather repeat to you, that I entirely 
defend Machiavelli's "Principe," taken in its full and literal acceptation, 
even as he certainly wrote it in the bitterest earnest. How much is there, 
which we may not say aloud, for fear of being stoned by the stupid good 
people ! There are times in which every individual must be sacred to us ; 
others, in which we can and ought only to treat men in masses ; all de- 
pends upon a true understanding of the times. A hundred years sooner, 
Caesar would have been a criminal ; when he lived he was forced to gov- 
ern. To talk of freedom in Italy, in our days, is what none but a fool or 
a villain could do; and I know nothing more miserable than Alfieri's af- 
fected panegyric of Trajan. Tacitus lived like a stranger in his century, 
but, with all the aspirations of his heart, it could never occur to him to 
wish for any thing beyond a tolerable present. I see that it is as usual 
with me, when I let my pen take its own course in writing to you. For 
how many days could we talk without coming to an end of what we had 

to say !* 

Of the old Roman constitution, it is plain that Cicero had only the most 
confused conceptions ; he never troubles himself in the least to trace its 
development. 

It is only a piece of good luck that no passages occur which the block- 
heads could seize as express evidence in favor of the old trivial opinions, in 
order to refute me with authority. Hence the interest of the book is con- 
fined to its other aspects. In the first place, the style and language are 
exquisitely beautiful ; and then, too, the fundamental political idea is re- 
markable. I can not believe that Cicero wrote without any immediate 
reference to his own times — that he was merely stringing phrases together 
without any practical application. If I am right, we see that what he 
wished for, as the only safeguard for freedom in that unhappy age, was 
the sovereignty of one individual for life, with a division of the powers as 
they had existed in the old constitution (or as he had conceived them to 
exist there) ; not the elevation of a family to an hereditary kingship. The 
factious power of the so-called optimates, between whom and the dema- 
gogues men had then but a mournful choice, he estimates at its true value, 
in a very remarkable passage. I believe most decidedly that the work had 
an elevated practical significance, which is obscure only because the lost 
books were the most important part of the work. Unfortunately the idea 
was impracticable, because Pompey and Caesar were both living at once, 
and it was needful that Destiny should be fulfilled, as it always must be 
fulfilled, when decay has proceeded so far. The yearly elections were, at 
that period, a constant renewal of misery, and had no longer any result 
but that of gratifying the ambition of many ; their original import was 
lost, and could not be restored. What is your opinion about it, my friend? 
I should like, if I had opportunity, to translate these fragments, to fill up 
the chasms with supplements in the translation (to do it in Latin would 
be an impertinence), and to append notes to it. 

After I have said so much to you upon learned matters, perhaps I may 
turn to our personal concerns. With regard to these, the constant indis- 
position and increasing weakness of my wife is the darkest side of the pic- 
ture. The children leave us nothing to wish for. They have just got over 
* Here followed an account of the books of Cicero's "De Republica," discov- 
ered by Mai. 



420 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the hooping-cough ; my wife had paid her debt to it in her childhood, but 
I was also attacked by it, and have not yet recovered my strength. That 
under these circumstances, I have not been able to carry on any contin- 
uous study, you will readily imagine. I am so weak that I can bear very 
little exertion. The climate, too, makes one indolent. 

We have lived much alone for some time past. In Cornelius we lost a 
friend whose society we enjoyed and valued. 

Your friend is certain of a cordial reception. But we can not supply 
what travelers often desire. We give no dinners, and there are no soirees 
at our house, where they can find society assembled. Hence travelers find 
great fault with me, and it is seldom that any come to me who enjoy me 
as I am. But then it is the right people who do so ; for instance, Lord 
Colchester and De Serre. Between the last and myself a downright passion 
has sprung up.* 

CCLXXXV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, 7th June, 1822. 

De Serre has been here,t and we have been very intimate with 

each other, and lament that we can not live together. I could form a 
friendship with him such as I have not formed for many years. In mind 
and heart he is entirely what I had pictured to myself ; he is one of the 
rarest and noblest human beings that I have ever met with. We have 
expressed our sentiments to each other with perfect openness respecting all 
that deeply occupies the intellect of man ; about the past and the future, 
about Germany and Prance. Nationality is no barrier between us ; he is 
a perfect master of our language, though he prefers talking in French, be- 
cause I speak it more easily than he does German. He is thoroughly ac- 
quainted with our literature ; pronounces, for instance, exactly the same 
verdict as we do upon Goethe's writings at the different periods of his life. 
While an admirer of his youthful writings, " Wilhelm Meister," and others 
of a similar stamp are distressing to him. He suits a court about as well 
as I do, except that having better spirits, he more easily adapts himself 
to every thing. Our political convictions are essentially quite identical. 

A young man has lately arrived here, a M. Lieber, of Berlin, who went 
to Greece as a volunteer, and has returned, partly that he might not die of 
starvation, partly because he found the boundless corruption of the Moreans, 

* In a later letter, Niebuhr writes as follows about him : " I conducted De 
Serre about the Forum here, and our conversation led us from the topography 
to the history of Rome — a conversation which would have been impossible with 
any man less resembling the ancient orators, and which could not have been 
equally delightful, even with him, in any other place. He understood every 
thing, as I placed before him with a vividness with which I was inspired by his 
sympathy, the progress of the constitution, the manners, and religion through 
succeeding centuries, and justified the Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla. He asked 
me if I had sufficient affection for him, to write this down for his use, and this I 
intend to do without any learned demonstration. It may, at all events, help to 
supply the place of a continuation of the History. He said, ' You must write, 
bearing it in mind that I am not learned.' I replied, 'You are neither more 
nor less learned than Demosthenes, and I love you like him.' " 

t He had been one of the French ministers at the Congress of Verona, which 
opened in October of this year. 






LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1822. 421 

and, withal, their cowardice insufferable. His veracity is unquestionable, 
and the horror which his narrations inspire is not to be described. All this 
has plunged him into deep melancholy ; for he has a very noble heart. He 
has deeply moved and interested us, and we are trying to cheer his spirits 
by friendly treatment, and to banish from his thoughts the infernal scenes 
which he has witnessed. He is one of the youths of the noble period of 
1813 (when he served in the army, and was wounded), who lost them- 
selves in visions, the elements of which they drew from their own hearts ; 
and this terrible contrast between his experience and all that he had im- 
agined — all that impelled him into distant lands, has broken his heart. 
He is now here in a state of destitution ; I shall at all events give him aid; 
but I mean to propose to him, in the first instance, to come to us, and as- 
sist me in instructing Marcus, and in my literary labors. He was arrested 
during the unhappy investigations of 1819, but dismissed as innocent. 

CCLXXXVI. 

Rome, 22dJune, 1822. 

I can only write to you briefly to-day. I returned from Tivoli yesterday, 
very much fatigued, and have many letters to send off. 

For this year past, I had not spent a single day beyond the walls of 

Rome, and felt the need of breathing a little fresh air I have been 

obliged, however, to leave Cornelia and the rest of the children behind. 
Marcus, Bunsen, and Lieber accompanied me. 

Lieber has now taken up hia abode with us. I can intrust Marcus to 
his care with confidence, and the child, too, is already fond of him. I hope 
to rescue the young man from utter dejection, and to convince him that 
just as his experience in Greece taught him the visionary nature of his 
wishes and expectations, so he would have made the same discovery in 
any other nation where the masses are liberated from all forms ; but that 
the Noble and Beautiful are not a dream, and will never be wholly want- 
ing in the world, however terrible may be its condition. A young man of 
warm feelings must be convinced of this truth, before you can attempt to 
prove to him that the evil which prevails so widely could not be found 
among the rulers unless it existed in the multitude ; that change of form 
can bring no deliverance unless the individual can be first improved. 

I am called away, as a very estimable young man, Dr. Pertz, has come 
to take leave of me, and I can not let him depart without a blessing. 

There is a small circle of men with whom I could spend my life, and 
wish that we could come to know each other. And if ever a human being 
existed so persuaded of the correctness and truth of his view of the world 
that he could stake his life upon it, I am that man. I know that I see 
truly as I know that I exist. 

Amelia has begun to write and to sew. She can read most things with- 
out spelling. 

CCLXXXVII. 

TO THE COUNT DE SEBJLE. 

Rome, 24tfi June, 1822. 
When I had the pleasure and honor of seeing your Excellency in Rome, 
I asked your permission to recommend to your protection a young German 
scholar, engaged in interesting researches, for which the libraries and ar- 



422 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

chives of the kingdom of Naples contain ample materials — materials which, 
it is to be feared, will remain inaccessible to him, unless some powerful 
patronage remove the obstacles which the national ignorance, indolence, and 
vanity, oppose to the labors of foreign scholars in Italy. This young 
scholar is M. Pertz, who will have the honor of delivering this letter into 
your hand. The task which has brought him into Italy is the great enter- 
prise conceived by my friend, Baron von Stein, of publishing a complete 
edition, corrected from the best MSS. of the " Scriptores Rerum German- 
icarum," from the earliest times to the thirteenth century; authors whose 
writings are only now extant in very incomplete collections, formed without 
any care. It is thought desirable to add to this collection inedited docu- 
ments belonging to our national history, and selected with discrimination 
from the infinite number which the archives contain. 

M. Pertz combines all the knowledge and the talents required for so vast 
and difficult a work ; but his best recommendations are his moral qualities, 
to which he joins much intelligence and a very sound judgment. In an 
age which I regard as the commencement of the literary decline of my 
nation, we may congratulate ourselves on numbering among our young 
scholars a man like him. 

At Naples and at La Cava, his inquiries will be principally directed to 
the history of the Lombards, and that of the princes of the house of Suabia ; 
I am sure, M. le Comte, that though a Frenchman and an embassador of 
France, you will not regard Charles I. of Anjou with any predilection, and 
that you will neither refuse your esteem to the emperor Frederic II., nor 
your sympathy to his unfortunate grandson. 

I had the honor of conversing with you, M. le Comte, on the state of 
England ; if I find sufficient leisure to finish an essay on this subject, writ- 
ten in German, and a safe opportunity of sending it to Naples, allow me 
to submit it to you. 

May the air of Naples produce a salutary and lasting effect upon your 
health, and invigorate the powers which you will need, sooner or later, for 
the salvation of your country and of Europe, whose safety depends upon 
the peaceable settlement of your institutions. It is one of my most earnest 
wishes that you may recover fully, and I entreat you attentively to watch 
over the effect upon your health of the air you are now breathing. 

It may have appeared singular to you, M. le Comte, that a stranger 
should have displayed an almost passionate veneration and attachment for 
you — sentiments with which the simple observation of your public life, and 
the study of the principles which you have developed, have sufficed to in- 
spire an individual, who had never had the advantage of knowing you per- 
sonally. But I venture to flatter myself that you will find nothing ridicu- 
lous in it, and that you will not disdain the idea of an invisible political 
church, dispersed among all nations, nor the sentiment which embraces 
political principles, and directs itself toward those who, unhappily in such 
small numbers, establish and defend them nobly and courageously. It is 
this sentiment which I shall ever entertain toward you, M. le Comte, and 
to the expression of which I will not add any conventional courtesies. 

NlEBUHR. 

The Concordia of M. Schlegel, for which you asked me, no longer ap- 
pears. 



LETTER TO A YOUNG PHILOLOGIST. 423 

CCXXXVIII. 

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO A YOUNG MAN WHO WISHED 
TO DEVOTE HIMSELF TO PHILOLOGY. 

Written in the Summer of 1822. 

When your dear mother wrote me word that you showed a decided in- 
clination to philological studies, I expressed my pleasure in hearing of it, 
and earnestly entreated her and your father not to interfere with this in- 
clination, by forming other plans for your future life. I think I told her, 
that as philology is the introduction to all other studies, he who devotes 
himself to this science during his school years with as much zeal as if it 
were to form the exclusive vocation of his life, prepares himself for any 
other that he may choose at the university; and, in the second place, I am 
so fond of philology myself that I could not select for a youth so near and 
dear to me as you are any other vocation in preference. There is no pur- 
suit more tranquil and more cheering ; none which, from the occupations 
it involves, and the duties it imposes, is more calculated to preserve peace 
of heart and of conscience ; and how often have I lamented that I forsook it, 
and entered upon a life of turmoil, that will probably leave me little 
chance of lasting repose even in approaching old age. The office of an in- 
structor of youth, especially, is a most honorable one, and one of the hap- 
piest callings in life to a noble heart, despite all the evils which mar its 
ideal beauty : it was once the object of my voluntary choice, and it would 
have been well for me if I had been suffered to pursue it unhindered. I 
am quite conscious that now, having passed my active life in so wide a 
sphere, I should be spoiled for it ; but I would wish any one for whom I 
have such a hearty and sincere regard as for you, that he might not thus 
spoil himself, nor long to quit the tranquillity and security of the narrow 
circle, in which I, like you, passed my youth. 

Your dear mother told me that you wished to Jay one of your productions 
before me, in order to give me a proof of your industry, and to enable me 
to judge of your progress. I begged her to encourage you to do so, not only 
in order to give you and yours a proof of the sincere interest I take in you, 
but also because pre-eminently in philology I am sufficiently acquainted 
with the object to be aimed at, and the paths that lead to it, as well as 
the wrong roads which one is apt to mistake for them, to be able to fortify 
one, who had been fortunate enough to find the right road, in his resolu 
tion not to leave it, and to have no hesitation in warning one who is in 
danger of going astray, and telling him whither he is tending if he do not 
change his course. I myself have made my way for the most part with- 
out a guide, and wandered through many a thorny thicket, unfortunately 
in opposition to the too gentle hints of those who might have led me. 
Thanks to God and my good fortune, I have never lost sight of my aim. 
and have always found the right road again, but I should have come much 
nearer to my goal, and with much less toil and pain, if any one had shown 
me the way. I am well aware that it was principally out of tenderness to 
me that this was not done, and probably, too, some did not like the trouble 
of making themselves intelligible to a boy at the self-willed age. I know, 
too, that I should not have relished advice which was not in accordance 
with my inclination ; but if it had come from one qualified to give it, I 
should certainly have taken it to heart, and it would have been worth 



424 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR 

much to me now if I had received it ; even though it had been harsh, and 
wounded me to the quick. 

I can say with truth, and do so with pleasure, that your production is 
an honorable testimony to your industry, and that it rejoices me to see 
how much you have done and learnt in the more than six years since we 
last saw each other. I see that you have read much, and with attention 
and love of knowledge. But I must now frankly beg you, in the first place, 
to examine your Latin, and convince yourself that you are deficient in this 
particular. I will not reproach you with a few grammatical errors. Upon 
this point, I am quite of the opinion of my late friend, Spalding, who was 
least of all impatient of such faults in the school, if their indication had 
the effect of gradually eradicating them. It is a much more serious defect 
that you have more than once left a period unfinished ; that you use words 
in an incorrect sense ; that your style is inflated and unequal ; that your 
metaphors are illogical.* 

You do not write simply enough to express without pretension a thought 
that is clear to your own mind. That you can not give richness and 
roundness to your style, is no subject for blame ; for though there have 
been some, especially in former times, who by the particularly fortunate 
guidance given to a peculiar talent, have been able to do this at your age, 
such perfection is, as a rule, out of the question. Fullness and maturity 
of expression presuppose a maturity of soul which can only arrive in the 
progress of its development. But what we always can and always ought to 
do, is not to strive after the semblance of more than we can perform, and to 
think and express ourselves with straightforwardness and correctness. So 
on this point accept a wholesome rule from me. When you write Latin 
essays, think out what you mean to say with the greatest distinctness of 
which you are capable, and clothe it in the most unassuming language. 
Study the manner in which great authors have formed their periods, and 
exercise yourself frequently in forming detached sentences upon their model ; 
translate passages so as to break up the periods, and endeavor to restore 
them when you re-translate the passage into the original. This is an ex- 
ercise in which you do not need the help of your teacher; do it simply as 
a preparatory discipline for the use of a riper time. "When you write, ex- 
amine scrupulously whether your language is of one color. I do not care 
whether you adopt that of Cicero and Livy, or that of Tacitus and Quin- 
tilian ; but one age you must select, else the result will be a motley tex- 
ture, as offensive to a real philologist as if one were to blend the German 
of 1650 with that of 1800. Try to acquire the art of connecting the sen- 
tences, without which all pretended Latin is a downright torture to the 
reader. And, above all, look sharply after your metaphors ; all that are 
not absolutely faultless are insufferable, and for this very reason it is, that 
Latin is such a capital school for the formation of a good style ; and next 
to Latin, French, for that also can not endure any thing illogical, about 
which the Germans are so fatally indifferent in their own language. 

You did quite right not to send the two skeleton essays you mention, 
for it is impossible that you should write any thing sensible upon then- 
subjects. 

We can not write separate treatises before we have a vivid conception 

* Here follow examples from tbe Essay, which could interest none but the 
person to whom the letter was addressed. 



LETTER TO A YOUNG PHILOLOGIST. 425 

and an accurate knowledge of the whole of which their subject forms a 
part, and before we have an adequate acquaintance with the relations of 
this single part to other classes of facts. Another principle is, that we must 
advance from the particular to the universal classes of facts, in order really 
to understand a complex whole. And here we do not need to follow a 
systematic order, but may yield to accidental impulses, provided that we 
proceed with circumspection, and do not overlook the chasms which still 
exist between the separate portions. I began the actual study of ancient 
History with Polybius, and was earlier intimate with the age of Cleomenes 
than with that of Pericles ; but I knew that my knowledge was objective- 
ly a slight fragment, and that I must have learnt infinitely more, before I 
could even dream of working up materials that were scattered through 
many ages, with which I was very imperfectly acquainted, and which had 
a multitude of relations of which I had no proper conception whatever. 
I worked on and on, and, when I can, I still work daily, in order to attain 
a vivid conception of antiquity. You have undertaken to write about the 
Roman colonies, and their influence upon the State. But it is quite im- 
possible that you can have even a half correct idea of the Roman colonies ; 
and to speak about their influence on the State, you ought not only to 
have an insight into the Roman constitution, and an intimate acquaint- 
ance with the Roman history, but also to understand politics and the his- 
tpry of politics, all of which is as yet absolutely impossible. While I say 
this to you, I add, that at your age none of us, who have a right to call 
ourselves philologists, could have written upon this subject ; nay, not even 
Grotius or Scaliger, or Salmasius, who became excellent grammarians at a 
much earlier age than any of us. The second subject you have mentioned 
is a still less suitable one for you. You must know enough of antiquity 
to be aware that the philosophy of youth consisted, up to a much riper 
age than yours, in silent listening, in the endeavor to understand and to 
learn. You can not properly know the facts, far less propound a general- 
ization, not to say a philosophic one, of facts which are quite insulated, 
and for the most part problematical. Learning, my dear young friend, 
conscientious learning — a constant effort to test and augment our knowl- 
edge — that is our theoretical vocation for life, and especially that of the 
young who are so fortunate as to be able to surrender themselves, freely, 
to the charms of the new intellectual world opened to them in books. He 
who writes a treatise, let him say what he will, claims to teach, and no 
one can teach without a degree of wisdom, which is the compensation 
God gives us, if we strive after it, for the departing bliss of youth. A 
wise youth is a monster. Further, let none say that he undertakes such 
compositions for his own sake, in order to explore a particular subject. 
He who does it with this view makes a mistake, and injures himself. Let 
him write down in a fragmentary form what he has thought out ; but let 
him not sit down to write, in the hope that thoughts will come by writing. 
He who attempts to bring into a well-roxvnded whole, that which can not 
even have the shadow of completeness, either internal or external, runs 
the very greatest risk of contenting himself with semblance and superficial- 
ness, and contracting a most injurious facility in bad writing. It is well 
for the young tree that, planted in a rich soil and good situation, is held 
in a right direction by a careful hand, and forms solid wood ! If ita 
growth is hastened by over-watering, and it is weak and flexible, exposed 



426 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

to the fury of the winds, without shelter and prop, its wood becomes 
porous, and its trunk crooked for its whole life. 

Antiquity may be compared to an immeasurable city of ruins, of which 
there is not even a ground-plan extant ; in which each one must find his 
way for himself, and learn to understand the whole from the parts — the 
parts from a careful comparison and study, and a due consideration of 
their relation to the whole. If one possessing only a smattering of archi- 
tectural knowledge, utterly ignorant of hydrostatics, having scarcely seen 
the greater part of the ruins of Rome, and nothing beyond Rome — if such 
a one should undertake to write about the ruins of the aqueducts, he would 
produce much such a work as a mere student writing a dissertation on some 
branch of antiquities. 

You have therefore done very wisely to choose instead an exegetical 
treatise. But I must remark that a student ought to keep within his 
own sphere ; that is, let him not believe that he can contribute any thing 
to the elucidation of a work which has been commentated on by masters. 

Exegesis is the fruit of finished study. From the stores of a compre- 
hensive acquaintance with the language and the subjects treated of, it 
adds to our knowledge of both ; it is nothing else than the expression of 
the meaning as it has been understood, if not by contemporaries, yet at 
least by people of somewhat later times, to whom the fleeting allusions of 
the moment were already lost, and it requires a mature and thoroughly 
cultivated understanding, as well as an infinity of individual observations. 
The student's part is to show that he has understood the meaning rightly, 
and to extract the essential points from the commentators, with a state- 
ment whence he has derived them. 

What I would above all things impress upon you, my dear friend, is to 
open your heart to a sincere veneration for excellence. It is the best en- 
dowment of a youthful mind, and its surest guide. 

I must now say a few words to you respecting the style of your com- 
position. It is too bombastic, and you often use inapplicable metaphors. 
Do not suppose that I am so unreasonable as to require a finished style ; I 
would as little require this of you as of any one at your age ; I only warn 
you against mannerism. All writing should be nothing but the symbol 
of the thought and speech. You must either write as if really delivering 
a continuous discourse, in which your genuine thoughts are accurately and 
fully expressed, or as you would speak if called upon to do so by circum- 
stances in which, indeed, you are not actually placed in real life, but con- 
ceive yourself to be, as an author. Every thing must be based upon 
thought, and the thought must shape the structure of the language. To 
be able to do this, we must apply our study of language, enrich the 
memory with a copious store of words and phrases, whether in the mother 
tongue, or in foreign languages, living or dead ; sharply define the terms 
of the former for ourselves, use the latter in their proper sense, and fix 
their limitation. Exercises in composition for boys and youths ought to 
have no other object than the development of their thoughts, the enrich- 
ment and refining of their language. If our thoughts do not satisfy us, if 
we turn and twist in the consciousness of our poverty, writing will becom3 
a horrible labor to us, and we shall hardly maintain our courage. This 
was my case at your age, and for long after. There was no one to enter 
into my distress, and give the help which can so easily be given at the 



LETTER TO A YOUNG PHILOLOGIST. 427 

transition age from boyhood to youth. This difficulty we do not feel if 
we adopt a fixed style, for then we have the external shape, which is not 
to be obtained when we work from within outwards ; or at least we be- 
lieve that we have it, and probably find others who suffer themselves to 
be deceived by the semblance ; not indeed those who understand the 
matter. But with an assumed style you lose all truth, and by degrees all 
capability of producing any thing of value and originality. In order to 
give an appearance of fullness, the whole is nothing but a hollow form ; 
all your own thoughts become distorted and worthless ; you rank yourself 
among those whom you fancy you resemble in appearance, and you are in 
reality nothing, and sink down to the lowest class of imitators. 

With some facility in seizing on external features, it must be very easy 
to obtain the mastery of an assumed style, but extremely difficult to shake 
it off when you have once had the misfortune to be entangled in it. The 
difficulty of developing and presenting our thoughts is by no means dimin- 
ished, when we have obtained a clear insight into our subject, while we 
have at the same time to struggle against a bad habit, and it is seldom 
that any one can sustain this double conflict. It will require heroic efforts 
to break yourself of such a habit, if you have long persevered in it. Hence 
I call upon you all the more earnestly to forsake this path utterly, and 
most carefully to avoid it for the future. To an assumed style belong all 
verbose and unmeaning expositions, with a false claim to a deep insight 
into the mind of the poet. 

But, above all things, we must preserve our truthfulness in science so 
pure, that we must eschew absolutely every false appearance — that we 
must not write the very smallest thing as certain, of which we are not 
fully convinced — that when we have to express a conjecture, we must 
strenuously endeavor to exhibit the precise degree of probability we attach 
to it. If we do not ourselves indicate our own errors where possible — 
even such as it is unlikely that any one will ever discover — if, when we 
lay down our pen, we can not say in the sight of God, "upon strict ex- 
amination, I have not knowingly written any thing that is not true, and 
have never deceived either regarding myself or others ; I have not exhibited 
my most inveterate opponent in any light which I could not justify upon 
my death-bed;" — if we can not do this, then study and literature render 
us unrighteous and sinful. 

In this respect I am conscious that I make no requirements from others, 
which a superior intelligence reading my soul could accuse me of not 
having fulfilled. It was this conscientiousness, combined with the percep- 
tion of what we may and ought to attain in philology, if we wish to come 
before the public, that made me so shy of publishing for long after I had 
reached manhood. Often called upon to do so by my dearest friends, not 
without reproaches, I felt that my hour was not yet come, which certainly, 
had my life taken a different course, might have come seveial years earlier. 

I am so strict in this respect, that I strongly disapprove of the quite 
customary practice of quoting at second-hand, after verifying the quota- 
tions, without naming where we have found them, and never allow myself 
to do so, tedious as the double reference may be. Whenever I quote a 
passage without remark, I have found it myself. He who acts otherwise 
gives himself the appearance of greater reading than he possesses. 

I would not blame others who are less strict, if I may assume that it is 



428 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

really perfectly indifferent to them whether or not people suppose them to 
be more profoundly learned than they really are ; or if they say beforehand, 
as some do, that of course most of the citations are borrowed. But of a 
young man I require, absolutely and without indulgence, were it only as 
an exercise of virtue, the most scrupulous truthfulness in literary as in all 
other matters, that it may become a part of his very nature, or rather that 
the truthfulness which God has implanted in his nature may remain there. 
With this weapon alone can we fight our way through the world. The 
nour ha which my Marcus should tell an untruth, or give himself the sem- 
blance of a merit that he did not possess, would make me very unhappy ; 
it would be the fall in paradise. 

I come now to another part of my business in giving you counsel. I 
wish you had less pleasure in satires, not excepting those of Horace. 
Turn to the works which elevate the heart — in which you contemplate 
great men and great events, and live in a higher world ; turn away from 
those which represent the mean and contemptible side of ordinary circum- 
stances and degenerate days. They are not suitable for the young, who 
in ancient times would not have been suffered to have them in their hands. 
Homer, iEschylus, Sophocles, Pindar, these are the poets for youth ; these 
are they on which the great men of antiquity were nourished, and which, 
as long as literature illumines the world, will ennoble for life the youthful 
soul that is filled with them. Horace's odes may also benefit the young 
as a standard style formed upon the Greek model, and it is a pity that a 
contempt for them has spread, which is only allowable and not arrogant 
in the case of a very small number of masters in philology. In the 
" Sermones"' Horace is original and more pithy, but he who can under- 
stand them must read them with melancholy ; a beneficial effect they can 
never have. We see a noble-minded man, who, from inclination and re- 
flection, tries to make himself comfortable in an unhappy period, and has 
surrendered himself to a bad philosophy, which does not prevent his re- 
maining honorable, but leads him to take a low view of things. His 
morality is based solely upon the principle of the Fitting, the Becoming, 
the Seasonable ; nay, he declares the Wholesome (to use the most favor- 
able expression) to be the source of the idea of Right. Wickedness is dis- 
tasteful to him, and excites him — not to anger, but to a gentle reproof. 
That feeling for virtue which impels us to persecute vice, and which we 
find not only in Tacitus, but also in Juvenal — in the latter with frightful 
severity — seems to have no place in his mind. Juvenal, however, with 
the exception of a few fragment^, you ought to leave absolutely untouched 
for the present, and you lose nothing by it ; for if you are allowed to read 
him, it does harm at your age to dwell on the contemplation of vice, in- 
stead of pondering noble thoughts. On the poets I have mentioned, and 
on Herodotus, Thucydides^ Demosthenes, Plutarch, Cicero, Livy, Caesar, 
Sallust, Tacitus, among prose writers, I earnestly entreat you to fix your 
attention, and to confine yourself exclusively to them. Do not read them 
in order to make aesthetic reflections upon them, but in order to drink in 
their spirit, and to fill your soul with their thoughts — in order to gain that 
by reading, which you would have gained by reverently listening to the 
discourses of great men. This is the philology which does the soul good ; 
and learned investigations, even when we have got so far as to be able to 
make them, always occupy an inferior place. We must be fully masters 



LETTER TO A YOUNG PHILOLOGIST. 429 

of grammar (in the ancient sense) ; we must acquire every branch of 
antiquarian knowledge as far as lies in our power ; but even if we can 
make the most brilliant emendations, and explain the most difficult pas- 
sages at sight, all this is nothing, and mere sleight of hand, if we do not 
acquire the wisdom and spiritual energy of the great men of antiquity — 
think and feel like them. 

For the study of language, I recommend to you especially Demosthenes 
and Cicero. Select, in the former, the Oration u pro Corona.;" in the lat- 
ter, the "pro Cluentio," and read them with all the thoughtfulness of 
which you are capable : then go through them so that you could give ac- 
count of every word and every phrase ; draw a sketch of their argument ; 
try to get a clear idea of all the historical circumstances, and to bring them 
into order. This will give you an immense amount of labor, and from it 
you will learn how little we can know, and, consequently, you do know. 
Apply then to your tutor, not in order to surprise him with unexpectedly 
difficult problems ; for there are — in the Cluentiana, for instance — diffi- 
culties with regard to facts which the profoundest student can only solve 
by hypotheses which do not present themselves immediately to any scholar ; 
but that he may be so kind as to consult and think over the passages on 
which you have exhausted your powers and resources. In the Cluentiana, 
develop the system of indictment. Make collections of words and expres- 
sions, especially epithets with their substantives, and the original sense of 
the figurative expressions. Translate ; after a few weeks turn your trans- 
lation back again into the original language. 

Besides this grammatical work, read those great authors one after the 
other with greater freedom ; but after having finished a book or a section, 
recall what you have read by an act of memory, and indicate the contents 
with the greatest brevity. Then besides, write down expressions and 
phrases that particularly occur to you ; so too you ought to write down 
every new word immediately, and read over the list at night. 

Let critics and emendators alone for the present. The time will come 
when you will be able to read them with profit. The artist must first 
learn to draw, before he begins to use colors, and he must know how to 
handle the ordinary colors, before he decides for or against the use of trans- 
parent tints. About writing I have spoken to you already. Do not read 
all that comes to hand, even of ancient authors ; there are plenty of bad 
ones among them. iEolus only permitted the one wind to blow that was 
to waft Ulysses to his destination, and bound the rest ; unchained, and 
blowing all at once, they caused him endless wanderings. 

Study history after a double mode, according to the persons and accord- 
ing to the states. Make systematic surveys frequently. 

The advice that I give you, I should give to every one in your place. 
The censure I should have to give to very many. Do not suppose that I 
am unaware of this, and that I do not joyfully give you full credit for your 
industry. 

The study which I require of you makes very little show, advances 
slowly, and it will perhaps depress you to see a long series of years before 
you, exclusively devoted to acquirement. But, my dear fellow, truly to 
learn and to acquire, is the true good of theoretical life, and our lifetime 
is not so short. But long as it may be, we have ever to go on learning. 
Thank God that it is so ! 



430 MEMOIR OF N1EBUHR. 

And now, may God bless your labors, and give you the right disposition, 
that you may carry them on to your own welfare and happiness, to the 
joy of your parents, and of all of us who have your virtue and respectabil- 
ity sincerely at heart. 



1823. 



In March, 1823, Niebuhr and his family went to Naples, where 
they spent five weeks in examining the remarkable places in its 
neighborhood, and he explored the public libraries. At the Royal 
Library, he undertook the revision of a Manuscript, in his opinion 
very important — that of the grammarian, Charisius. His leisure 
hours were spent with De Serre, with whom he contracted a 
friendship such as is rarely formed in later life, and carried on a 
regular correspondence up to De Serre's death. 

On leaving Naples, Niebuhr returned to Rome, visited for the 
last time, with his son, the scenes and spots that were dearest to 
him, and then, after a sorrowful parting with Chevalier and Mad- 
ame Bunsen, and a few of his younger friends, set out on his 
journey to Florence, whence he proceeded, by way of Bologna, 
Verona, and Ferrara, to St. Gall. 

Here he passed some weeks, partly to recruit his health, and 
partly to examine the MSS. in the celebrated library of that 
place. He found that most of them were of a theological char- 
acter ; but, among the exceptions, he discovered the Panegyric of 
Merobaudes, which he revised and prepared for publication during 
his stay there. From St. Gall, he went to Heidelberg, to visit 
two of his earliest friends — the aged Voss, and Thibaut, his com- 
panion at college He next visited Bonn, in order to see Professoi 
Brandis, and, after remaining there some time, determined to se- 
lect it as his place of residence until it should be finally decided 
whether or not he returned to Rome. 

Letters written in 1823. 
CCLXXXIX. 

TO COUNT ADAM MOLTKE. 

Rome, 8tk February, 1823. 
My dear Friend — You must ascribe my long silence simply and solely 
to awkwardness. As I did not immediately answer the letter by which 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 431 

you offered me an opportunity of renewing our correspondence, after your 
visit to Rome, 1 have been waiting all this long time for some other occa- 
Bion on which I could begin writing to you. But, though I am sufficient- 
ly inclined in general to self-reproach, I think I may be forgiven in this 
instance for not having answered your letter immediately. Every thing 
came on us at once ; my wife's confinement, &c, the effects of which last- 
ed long afterward ; the negotiations on ecclesiastical affairs ; and the Ne- 
apolitan insurrection and Punchinello-revolution, which threatened us here 
with an unpleasant farce. Then followed such a winter of perpetual soci- 
ety and dissipation as I never underwent before ; in short, so much time 
passed over without my fulfilling the duty which a kind Heaven had point- 
ed out, that I was at last too much ashamed to write. 

The particular reason of ray writing to you at last, my dear old friend, is 
as follows : Dora mentions the betrothal of your Charles as an event about 
which she has already written to us, but this is a mistake. I know no- 
thing more than the bare fact, but it is enough to make me greet you 
again, and wish you and your Charles every blessing ; and I doubt not, 
nay, I have the fullest confidence, that this decision for his life will be so 
fortunate, that his friend may rejoice over it with his father. May God 
grant it, and preserve his paths from the thorns on which you have been 
forced to tread ! Our youth fell in a time of illusions and hopes ; the 
youth of the present age, who are kept close to realities almost as our fa- 
thers were, have a right to demand other compensations from Fate. 

That I never once made use of your residence in Rome to unite the pres- 
ent with departed days, is one of the things — there are not few of them — 
for which I can never be consoled, which will embitter the retrospect of 
my life in my last hour. It was as though a spell lay upon me ; I felt 
that it would be enough to utter one word ; once to give vent to the emo- 
tions of the heart in tears. But I could not unclose my lips to speak that 
word. The past could not rise again from its grave, and I felt as though 
it would have shaken the foundations of that present which it is now the 
duty of my life to preserve and develop. 

"When you had left, I would gladly have hastened after you, and spent 
one day more with you, at whatever cost. Thus I suffered under a tor- 
turing constraint, which still rends my heart whenever I think of that 
time which might have refreshed and strengthened me, as far as is still 
possible for me. My mind is like a nation that has passed through a rev- 
olution, and now must proceed in a new order, as the old order is irrecover- 
ably destroyed. I economize the little still left out of my old treasures, 
recognizing now how inexpressibly valuable was what I once possessed ; 
and with what the new time has brought me, I teach myself to fulfill my 
duties, and take the relations of fife as they come. 

My position here has one essential defect, that I can not satisfy the re- 
quirements of those who have no possible claim upon me but through my 
official station ; that I can not afford to keep open house for idle travelers, 
and would rather bear their anger at my doing nothing, than their con- 
tempt for what I might offer. Rome has become the chief place of amuse- 
ment for the collective idleness of Europe, and even if the ministry would 
give me the means of undertaking a role in this dissipation, it would be 
terrible to waste one's time upon it. 

This consideration makes it less difficult for me to resign my present 



432 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

office, although we have hut a very uncertain future before us, and I will 
not deny that the prospect of returning to Germany gives me some uneasi- 
ness. But Gretchen's feelings are the deciding point ; she feels that the 
air here is poison to her, and so there was nothing more to consider. 

Our chief care is to rind a place where I may spend the remaining years 
of my life without the necessity of a further change. Other things being 
nearly equal, we shall certainly choose to settle as far as possible from the 
Russian frontier. 

My Marcus is a boy of excellent capacities ; his education amid antiqui- 
ty has been perfectly successful. The old world is to him the true and 
real one ; the modern only something accidental. This will undoubtedly 
render some bitter discoveries necessary in the future. Ancient history 
and mythology are as familiar to him as to a Roman boy eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, and he is burning with sympathy and sheds tears for the 
heroes of the Trojan time, over the literal Latin translation of the Odyssey 
which to us seems so miserable. He looks forward confidently to climb- 
ing Parnassus, and seeing Jupiter and the old gods there, of whom I told 
him the modern Greek tradition, that they have taken refuge on the sum- 
mit of the mountain. 

When you were here, my friend, we spoke often, as you will remember, 
of De Serre ; it is the happiest result of my residence in this city, that he 
has been here, and that we have become intimate friends. As the ancients 
wrote to and for an individual, I mean to write for him a short compen- 
dious narrative of the Roman History through all its centuries. Is De Serre 
still called a thorough-going servant of despotism by the German liberals ? 
There are cabinets in which he is held to be a mad poetical visionary, and 
no doubt a revolutionist. 

Farewell, my dear friend, and if you have not quite effaced me from 

your memory, write to me about your Charles 

Your old friend, 

Niebuhr. 
CCXC. 

TO COUNT DE SERRE. 

Rome, 9tk February, 1823. 

M. le Comte — I shall profit by a perfectly safe opportunity to send you 
some reflections on the state of England. You will receive them with 
kindness, but I do not recommend them the less to your indulgence.* 

On that country I have a right to form an opinion ; I have a right to 
except against that of the English, and to criticise it, as much as if the 
question related to my own country, and the opinion of my fellow-country- 
men respecting its state, for I know England as well as if I had been born 
there. I was taught the language in my earliest childhood, and from the 
age of ten years I was in the constant habit of reading the English jour- 
nals ; my father sent me there to finish my studies, and to become ac- 
quainted with the political and civil life of a free people, as well as to 
study rural economy, commerce, the application of chemistry to the arts, 
and lastly, finance. With introductions from him (who, though little known 
at home, was the object of universal respect in England), to the most 

* This Essay, entitled " Ueber England's Zukunft/' is published in Niebuhr s 
" Nachgelassene Schriften," p. 426. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 433 

eminent men of that country, I was as if naturalized there; and, after 
having quitted it, I continued to watch with the same interest the mi- 
nutest details of its circumstances, and have followed its moral, political, 
and financial history, for the last twenty years, with an attention which 
even such events as those of 1806 and 1813 have rarely sufficed to dimin- 
ish. And the more I occupied all my leisure moments with researches 
into the history of the institutions and laws of the nations of antiquity, 
the more I was led to turn my attention to the history of England, among 
those states, where the free institutions of the middle ages have maintain- 
ed themselves for a more or less lengthened period, and where even im- 
portant changes — as, for instance, in the tenure of property — have been 
brought to pass in the course of their natural development. Lastly, I have 
more especially devoted my attention to the finance of England, on account 
of a work, the idea of which I conceived some years ago; namely, a his- 
tory of the finances of all European states from the peace of 1783, pre- 
ceded by a picture of their condition at that epoch, and terminated by a 
statement of the results. 

I beg, M. le Comte, that you will simply consider this explanation as a 
statement of the circumstances which make me feel myself entitled to dis- 
cuss, without presumption, the questions treated of in my little essay. 

In reasoning, on the future, I have asked myself, What should I do in 
Mr. Canning's place, with his principles and his character? Will you be 
one of those who would now accuse me of attributing reckless audacity to 
him with injustice ? I think not. 

It was by similar chains of reasonings, that I always used to divine the 
projects of Napoleon, and even the plans of his campaigns. 

England must choose between two futures. Has she the will and the 
power to adopt a manly and virtuous policy ? Then she will occupy her- 
self with the moral reformation of society; she will renounce the project of 
domineering over and weakening the Continent of Europe ; and she will 
leave the growth of the America of the North in the hands of Providence : 
she may deplore a war with Spain, but she will not give a mortal blow to 
the restoration in France. Is she willing to brave the greatest dangers, 
confident that she can surmount them, and to found an empire such as no 
power may dare to attack? Then she will adopt precisely the course 
which I have traced out. 

In writing for you, M. le Comte, I have thought it unnecessary to add 
to my prophecies the restrictions, if such or such an event happen, by which 
on other occasions one is obliged to guard against the taunt, often little 
merited, of having predicted events which are not realized. Unforeseen 
accidents may arrest Mr. Canning in his career; for myself, I simply say 
that he will arrive at the results which I have indicated, if, as every thing 
leads us to believe, he is able to advance without restraint. 

Have you ever read in Germany a paper of Lessing's, which alarms 
pious persons, but which is none the less worthy of a profound philosopher, 
li die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts?" * There is in that paper a 
sentence of the deepest significance: "The enthusiast," he says, "and 
the philosopher are frequently only at variance as to the epoch in the future 
at which they place the accomplishment of their efforts. The enthusiast 
does not recognize the slowness of the pace of time. An event not imme 
* The Education of the Human Race. 
T 



434 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

diately connected with the time in which he lives is to him « nullity." 
Do not attribute to me the idea that the defects, which as I think are eat- 
ing into the vital principle of England, threaten her existence in our times, 
or those of our children. My views would admit of development to a very 
much greater extent with regard to Ireland and other points ; but these 
rapidly sketched pages would then extend into a volume. 

During the few weeks yet remaining of our stay in Rome, I shall have 
absolutely no time to write you the essay on Roman history for which you 
asked me. It shall be my occupation at Baden-Baden. I feel warmly 
grateful to you for having- asked me for it. The ancients wrote for the 
friend to whom they dedicated a book ; this gives marked characteristics 
to what is written 5 this enables one to dispense with precautions against 
the misapprehensions of such and such readers. It is an inestimable ad- 
vantage to me that you understand our language so well •, in writing, for 
the future, I shall fancy that I am speaking to you. Atticus wrote an 
abstract of the history of Rome for the use of his friend Cicero ; may I not 
recall this example on my own behalf? 

Society here is about to abandon itself to amusements during the carni- 
val. There is sometliing fearful in these pitiable amusements at a moment 
when all our lives are in the balance. What a despicable generation is 
this of ours ! I even prefer the Greeks of Constantinople, quarreling about 
their theological disputes, to our contemporaries, who require diversions for 
their ennui, who flock to balls on the eve of a universal crisis, which is 
teaching us all how precious was the time by which we neglected to profit. 
For my own part, I share in the feelings of a dying man who reproaches 
himself for not having employed his life well. Lent and its silence will 
be a relief to me. I have just bought a copy of Leonardo da Vinci. 

As you do me the honor of allowing me to plan your Italian 

library, I would warmly recommend to you the Florentine History of Varchi, 
if you can find a complete copy of it ; almost all are mutilated. In read- 
ing this author, I have seen that we may be incredibly circumstantial, and 
yet rivet the attention. It will make you acquainted with a great man — 
Ferrucci— of whom there are so few ! 

CCXCI. 

Rome, 25tk February, 1823. 

I have sent word to Cardinal Gonsalvi that you wish to be in- 
formed of the state of his health. Your interest in him has given him the 
most lively pleasure, and he sends you his sincere acknowledgments. Alas ! 

I have no agreeable news to give you on this subject It appears 

to me certain that the seat of the disease is the oesophagus, and that the 
nerves of the ganglion are attacked. I am not aware whether you think 
it allowable to believe in animal magnetism, but for my part I have faith 
in it, and I believe that if cure were possible in this case, it must be sought 
in this remedy 

I have read with terror the speeches in the English parliament. I regret 
that I did not take notes of the number of the " Espectador" a journal in 
which M. de St. Miguel wrote at that time, in which last year his Britan- 
nic Majesty, now the ally of Don Miguel, was accused of having poisoned 
his daughter, his wife, and Napoleon ! 

I shudder when I think of the future. The infatuated men have brought 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 435 

us to the point of having put England, and the English ministry, at the 
head of the revolutionary party. There are some ministers who ought to 
follow the example of Lord Londonderry 

CCXCII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Naples, 8th April, 1823. 

We have been here a week, and, as is always the case with a season 
of great enjoyment, the time slips away very quickly, and it makes me 
sad to think that a quarter of that which we can spend here is already 
over. It is years certainly since I spent such happy days. In this elastic 
atmosphere you feel elastic ; the sense of weight and lassitude which diffuses 
itself through your whole body in Rome, at least if you remain long there 
without a break, vanishes in Naples. 1 believe it was not without reason, 
and not merely for the sake of the scenery, that the old Romans regularly 
visited their country houses and the shores of this bay. Sky, earth, and 
sea, compose a whole which certainly far transcends my expectations ; and 
in De Serre's society I have all that my heart and intellect have so long 
and sorely missed, and there is a friendship between our families which 
already extends even to the children. I really feel several years younger, 
and able to work hard without a laborious effort. 

We arrived here on Marcus's birth-day. The whole journey had been 
a festival to him, and it was a deep joy to us to perceive his open suscep- 
tibilities to all these new impressions. We felt how much he had developed 
and improved during the past year, on comparing him with his former self. 
It is an inestimable advantage for him that we have remained here so long, 
for, in his own way, he enjoys every thing, antiquities and nature, like a 
grown person, and with all the bliss of childhood superadded. No, I do 
not think that any one ever had a happier childhood ! The night before 
his birthday, we slept at a little place called St. Agata ; we had stopped 
at mid-day at Mola (it was a most beautiful day), to feast our eyes on the 
bay and the prospect toward Gaeta. The boy was intoxicated with delight, 
and his ecstasy kept his soul awake to the last second, when his body was 
long since quite tired out. When he was in bed, he clung round his mother's 
neck, and said in German, " Mother, how very happy I am that God has 
given me such a good father and mother, and such good sisters !" My 
heart was very tender, and I could not help begging his pardon, because I 
once punished him severely for a piece of mischief which Lucia had done, 
and not he, but we were compelled to believe that he was the culprit, and 
was trying to screen himself by a lie ; I said that I had been unjust to 
him : " No, father, that you never were !" he answered with the greatest 
warmth 

A manuscript which I must collate, at least in all the important pas- 
sages, in order to be justified in editing a work which has been printed 
from very bad copies of the same, takes up much of my time which might 
be spent more pleasantly ; but I think I ought not to lose this opportunity, 
as it is scarcely probable that any one else will be found to undertake a 
task whieh has been left undone for three centuries. The people here are 
very obliging ; and when I have finished this task, I mean to embrace the 
unexpected offer of permission to read the facsimiles of the Herculanean 



436 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

papyrus-rolls, the proof sheets of which have heen already printed from 
copper-plates, but which are not yet published. 

Of the knavery of the people we had a strong proof, in the sum they 
asked for unloading our carriage, else they can not be worse than those 
we have left, and their vivacity is a strong recommendation to them com- 
pared with the lifeless indolence of the Romans. It certainly tends to 
make one judge them more favorably that we have lived so many years 
in Italy, and have long since ceased to make the demands, the non-fulfill- 
ment of which plunges any foreigner into despair, who can not indemnify 
himself by a general enthusiasm. At Terracina you begin to meet with 
southern scenery and southern productions ; the oranges at Rome are sour, 
and we have often remarked that we had never eaten such bad ones in 
Germany ; the Sicilian ones here certainly possess a perfection such as 
they never retain when brought across the sea to the north. But the dif- 
ference of the climate is shown most strikingly by the fact, that it is ad- 
visable here when the sun has shone into a room, to open the window in 
the evening in order not to suffer from the sultry air during the night ; 
while it was only a few days before we left Rome, that we could do alto- 
gether without a fire, and most likely should not have given it up so soon 
except in prospect of the journey 

CCXCIII. 

Naples, 29th April, 1823. 

I have seen a great deal of De Serre, and this short period of 

uninterrupted intimate intercourse has so perfected our friendship as to 
secure its steady duration, even if we should never meet again. I revere 
him more than ever, from seeing him in all the relations of life, and I now 
say, as an eye-witness, what I was convinced of before, from the picture 
which I had formed of him to myself, that his character is as perfectly 
virtuous and as spotless in its purity, as he is great as a man, and rare 
as a genius. 

His family is certainly one of the happiest on the face of the earth; a 
lively and sensible wife who admires her husband, and is proud of him, 
whom he loves very tenderly; his children are the objects of his warmest 
affection. All who belong to the embassy belong to the family, and even 
the servants who have come here with them, seem rather to be in the po- 
sition of faithful retainers than domestics. The interior of the family has 
no more the tone of the fashionable world than belongs to his position as 
a representative of his country, and this tone appears only when his official 
position is in question, which is very seldom ; at other times his mode of 
life, notwithstanding the size of the establishment, and the elegance of the 
apartments, is quite that of a commoner, and you enter into all the ar- 
rangements and feelings of the family quite as you would with people of 
our class. De Serre's long residence in Germany, particularly in his youth, 
during the emigration, his intimate acquaintance with our language and 
literature, his taste for them, the many vicissitudes through which he has 
passed, the necessity of earning his bread as an advocate after his return, 
have certainly brought to extraordinary perfection, one of the rarest spirits 
that nature has ever created. Conscious of his powers, all his externa* 
gifts of fortune are to him neither a possession of value, nor a fetter. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 437 

We see each other daily, and often more than once in the day ; we 
have made excursions tocether as far as the weather would permit, and 
farther 

CCXCIV. 

TO COUNT DE SERRE. 

Rome, 18lh March, 1823. 

The new Chancellor of the Exchequer proves himself incompar- 
ably superior to his predecessor, the inept Mr. Vansittart, so extolled in 
the semi-official pamphlet which appeared last year. His financial state- 
ment deserves full confidence, with one correction, which is, however, very 
essential : namely, the following : 

I adopt his estimate of the receipts, as they would be if no duties had 
been repealed, at 52,200,000/. Deducting the amount of these duties, 
we shall have rather under 50,000,000/. ; but I do not doubt that the 
revenues will reach this amount, or perhaps rather more. 

He has, however, no right to add to these receipts the 4.850,000/. due 
from the Trustees of Half-pay and Pensions, because these Commissioners 
will only have this money by borrowing it ; which reduces the real sur- 
plus to 150,000/.. and annihilates the Sinking Fund. I need hardly re- 
mind you that I do not regard this as a great evil for England. 

Such is the reality which I can vouch for ; and I suspect that the very 
imperfect manner in which these discussions are reported in the English 
journals, conceals a result still less favorable. I do not find in the state- 
ment of expenses the 2,050,000/., which, with the 2,800,000/. constitutes 
the 4,850.000/. to be advanced by the Trustees of Half-pay and Pensions. 
Now I attribute this omission simply to the ignorance of those who report 
the Parliamentary debates in the journals. The new minister has wished 
to make a sensation to inspire Europe with admiration, but I can scarcely 
bring myself to believe that he has been guilty of a piece of low cunning, 
such as the ministers of absolute monarchs not unfrequently indulge in. 
Still, it seems evident to me that this sum ought to be added to the ex- 
penses, and then the balance would stand as follows : 

Total expenses without the sum to be borrowed on an- 
nuities for the Pension List £49,852,786 

Sum to be borrowed in order to pay the Pension List . 2,050,000 

£51,902,786 
Total receipts, after the suppression of the duties, 

which will be paid however for the first half year. . 50,000,000 

From which will result a deficit of £1,902.786 



You will smile at my saying that this budget merits all confidence, 
when I nevertheless destroy its results. I ought to have said that all the 
facts are exact ; but that the calculations should be corrected.* 

What the minister says respecting the reforms and retrenchments made 

* The actual receipts of the year 1823, including £4,678,000 derived from the 
Trustees of the Naval and Military Pensions, amounted to £57,672,999, the 
actual expenditure to £50,962,014. 



438 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

in the administration, admits of no doubt, and does great honor to the 
government. 

There is, however, nothing alarming in this deficit, even if it should not 
disappear before the more ample information which I shall endeavor to 
obtain from London itself; it will simply force the government to adopt 
at last the only existing course by which the finances of England can be 
saved ; namely, to change the system, of taxation entirely, in the manner 
which I have indicated.* The opinions of Mr. Ricardo and Lord Somers 
prove that the most correct thinkers in England are beginning to have a 
glimpse of its necessity, its indispensable necessity. The repeal of taxes 
avails nothing, and is not the effect of abundance in the finances ; it is 
the effect of an inevitable necessity, and ought to be compensated by a 
property tax. 

The budget altogether is not a financial, but a political matter. Hence 
I can not conceive how it is, that, out of England, people do not examine 
it, nor test the calculations. 

This would frustrate the policy of the English minister ; but the refuta- 
tion ought not to exaggerate any thing. 

An infinity of facts have come to my knowledge lately, and confirm what 
I have written upon England. Thus a landowner declares that he would 
be content to sell for £21,000, an estate for which he paid £72,000 in 
1810. 

Have you heard, M. le Comte, that Count Munster had informed the 
Hanoverian envoys, that the King of England, as King of Hanover, en- 
tirely approves the resolutions of Verona ; and that he is even convinced 
that Europe would fall a prey to revolution if the allied powers displayed 
less energy ? It is evident that they fear a continental war, which might 
endanger Hanover. 

The French post of to-day will bring you deplorable news ! So the men 
who now exclude a colleague,! without being authorized to do so, by a 
regulation which is undoubtedly too indulgent, but which is the law, are in 
part the same who rejected your proposition for increasing the authority of 
the president. 

M. Wicar had promised me to call at last on the picture-dealer to-day, 
to examine the Filippo Lippi ; I do not know if he has kept his promise ; 
he has not come to inform me of the result. The picture-dealer, whom I 
requested to be at home to receive Wicar, has sent me word that Wicar is 
his enemy ; I hope it has not come to poniards. 

I rejoice in your acquisitions in pictures. What a pity it is that the 
riches of Italy are almost exhausted ! 

I, too, can not help believing that there are affinities between the con- 
vulsions of the physical world, and those of the moral order of things. I 
venture to predict that, in twenty or thirty years, a terrible plague will 
* In the Essay "Ueber England's Zukunft." 

t During the debates in the French Chamber of Deputies on the proposed 
war with Spain, in order to suppress the Constitution and restore Absolutism, 
M. Manuel, deputy for La Vendee, was excluded from the Chamber, by a vote 
of the ultra-royalist majority, for having used the expression, "You wish to save 
the life of Ferdinand, and forget that the Stuarts were overthrown because they 
sought the aid of France — that Louis the Sixteenth's head fell, because foreign- 
ers mixed themselves in the cause of France." These words were declared to 
be a defense of regicide, although Manuel explained that he had used them with 
the contrary intention. 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 439 

devastate Europe. In three or four hundred years, it will be possible to 
calculate the increase or diminution of the human race, and the change in 
the maximum of heat and cold, &c. 

Jlu revoir, Count, if the communications of Wicar do not occasion you 
another letter, before my departure. Meanwhile, permit me to assure you 
once more of the unchangeable devotion of my heart. 

Niebuhr. 

ccxev.* 

The reduction of the rate of interest on the State debt is extremely facili- 
tated by the existence of another stock, to which it is desirable to reduce it. 

If none such exist, the fund-holder will estimate the indemnity which is 
due to him, in proportion to the interest ; he will consider himself injured 
if you do not offer him 125 of nominal capital for 100, when you wish to 
reduce the five per cent, to four per cent. 

If more than one kind of stock exists, at different rates of interest, their 
respective prices will have fixed themselves in very different proportions, 
for they are regulated by two efficients of unlike nature; namely, the an- 
nual product as an investment, and the expectation of a rise when it may 
be desirable to part with them. Moreover, experience proves that in all 
cases, State bonds bearing a smaller interest, fetch a higher price in pro- 
portion than those bearing higher interest. Thus, before 1780, the Dutch 
bonds at two-and-a-half per cent, fetched one hundred and eight per cent., 
those at three per cent, only from one hundred and ten to one hundred and 
twelve- It is superfluous to cite the example of the English and American 
funds. 

Up to the financial operations of Mr. Pelham, England had alleviated 
the burden of her public debt by arbitrary reductions, after the example of 
Holland, of the various states of Italy, of Spain, not to speak of France, the 
only one which it is usual to decry as an act characterized by violence. 
Mr. Pelham found himself obliged to obtain a semblance of voluntary assent 
on the part of the stock-holders ; but the great difficulty found in carrying 
out Sir John Barnard's plan, arose from the absence of a regulating stock, 
bearing interest below four per cent. For this reason, it was necessary to 
wait tdl the funds had risen much above par, and even then to expose 
themselves to the risk of failure. 

Mr. Pitt did all that he could to augment the mass of the five per cents., 
in order that his successors might one day have it in their power to dimin- 
ish the burden of the debt very sensibly; it was in order to render this 
operation feasible that he made so much effort to give importance to the 
four per cents. Through pusillanimity Mr. Vansittart did not accomplish 
till 1822, what he might have done in 1818. 

If there existed in France a stock at four per cent., as well as the five 
per cents., it is indubitable that the latter being at ninety per cent., the 
four per cents would be at seventy-eight or eighty, instead of seventy-two. 
The foreigner, speculating in the French funds, would prefer them to those 
of which the price would be more nearly at par, for his imagination would 
represent to him a profit of a quarter instead of that of a ninth : the 
amount of this stock would be more limited than that of the five per cents., 

* This paper bears no date, but it seems to be in its place here, although it 
may possibly have been written somewhat earlier. 



440 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

which would necessarily produce a more considerable rise than the invest- 
ment of the same sum ; finally, small capitals would be invested in it to a 
greater extent. 

I could have wished that the opportunity had been embraced of creating 
a stock at five per cent., when the treasury sold the twelve and a half 
millions of stock, or else when the reimbursement took place. 

Undoubtedly this operation could not have been accomplished without 
making up your mind to some loss, since the exchequer ought to have the 
whole sum reimbursed, which it had expended in the purchase of the stock 
that it had been necessary to realize. But I am inclined to think — so far 
as one has a right to form an opinion at such a distance — that this loss 
would not have been very considerable : at any rate, there would have been 
no need to create fifteen millions, instead of twelve and a half, to obtain 
the same sum. I believe that the commissioners might have gradually 
drawn out the four per cents, on the Exchange, and the five per cents, 
would have risen more than they have done, and that they might have had 
the satisfaction of ending by investing a part of the four per cents, at the 
same price at which the grand negotiation was concluded. 

You will pardon a foreigner the quaint expression, that there exists a spe- 
cies of emulation between the different kinds of public funds of the same 
nature, which impels them all forward when they are inclined to rise. 
Without a stock at four per cent., that at five per cent, would with diffi- 
culty rise above par, and till it should have exceeded par, a reduction of 
the interest of the debt could produce no result of sufficient importance. 

In no wise personally interested that this measure should be some day 
carried out with success, and before long, it being in fact rather contrary to 
my interest, since I am not at all inclined to sell what I possess in the 
five per cents., it is for the interest of Europe in general, that I desire to 
see those brilliant ameliorations effected in France, which will insure 
gratitude and respect to the government. 

CCXCVI. 

Rome, 9th May, 1823. 

My beloved and revered friend, this letter to you is the first I have writ- 
ten since my arrival in this city, now almost become a home to me. Yours 
had arrived here before we had completed our tedious journey, and was the 
first I read after that of a friend of my youth, who, for a period of almost 
thirty years, has guided my life like a guardian angel, and who now stands 
before me and above me like a departed spirit in a better world ; a friend 
who has awakened in me the best powers of my heart and mind, and roused 
them to action. 

I have no words to tell you, how heartily I love you, and how acutely I 
miss your presence and your society. They could be only words of passion, 
which I can no longer utter. The time spent with you and yours, was the 
happiest that we have passed in Italy, and, through you, Naples will re- 
main a hallowed spot in our memory as long as we live. Any real bless- 
ing we have once enjoyed is, in its best part, imperishable ; and for old age, 
on the borders of which I stand, there can remain but little beside recollec- 
tions. Still I fancy if I could live with you, I should grow young again 
instead of growing old. 

I have learnt to know you as a husband and father ; and my affection 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 44! 

for you has found new and rich food ; my wife and children cling to you 
and yours with that cordiality, without which the friendship of two men 
who are fathers of families must always remain imperfect. 1 esteem you 
happy in your household blessings, and congratulate myself that I have no 
reason to envy you in that respect. I constantly think of your wife with 
esteem, and with the pleasure which her bright, energetic, graceful ways 
inspire, and which is heightened by all that surrounds her ; your children 
dwell in my heart as if they were of my own kindred. 

My wife, who had been accustomed to frank sociability, had for years 
painfully felt the want of it here. She found it in your house, and if she 
gained strength in Naples, it was certainly much less owing to the air and 
the neighborhood of the sea, which she had been used to from her child- 
hood, than to you and your dear wife. Marcus will never forget you, and 
the thought of your approval or disapproval will, I trust, ever remain with 
him, as it is now, a powerful incentive to good. As he grows older, and 
able to understand it, he will hear more and more of you, and the love with 
which he clings to you, is a holy sentiment whose preservation will be on8 
of my first cares. He and the little ones remember your children with 
childish friendship, and your wife with gratitude and love. 

We all pray that God's richest blessings may accompany you and youi 
family, and the pious lips of the innocent children only echo the voice of 
their hearts. "We pray that all the happiness you possess may be preserved 
to you ; that you may have a vocation worthy of your noble mind, and re- 
ceive a blessing in this vocation ! These sentiments are our thanks for all 
your love and kindness, and for the happy time that we owe to you. 

Hearty thanks for your letters, with which your father-land will be no 
foreign land to us. To your relations and friends I shall be able to speak 
of you out of the fullness of my heart ; here I can not, excepting with a 
few young friends 

CCXCVII. 

Rome, 9th May, 1823. 

My revered friend, I shall try a commercial route to announce to you 
some tidings, which are in every point of view important to you. 

It seems an understood thing that the King of Naples will remain at 
Vienna during the whole of this summer • or rather, it is said here, that 
this is quite certain. 

But what I have to tell you now will sound to you quite incredible ; and 
yet on closer consideration you will find it very probable. 

It has been represented to your ministry, and they perceive themselves, 
that it might probably be impossible to get possession of the person of the 
King of Spain while hunting, and that yet the Junta could not supply the 
place of the monarch for any length of time. It has therefore been pro- 
posed to allow King Ferdinand of Naples, as his uncle, to be nominated to 
the regency, but with the condition that he shall appoint a substitute. He 
will hardly choose the Duke of Angouleme as his delegate. The nomina- 
tion is to take place when the Junta is installed at Madrid ; and it is pos- 
itively asserted that this city will be occupied on the 28th.* Immediately 
upon this, the Count Brunetti will come forward in his capacity of Aus- 
trian embassador. 

* The Duke of Angouleme entered Madrid on the 24th of April. 



442 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

The objects of all this are as clear as day. 

Two Spanish privateers have appeared before Civita Vecchia. This has 
suspended all the shipments of corn to Marseilles, which had just begun 
with fair prospects. 

I say nothing to you about the proclamation of the Junta. You prob- 
ably know that Eguia is a decrepit, avaricious general, without any per- 
sonal weight. Of the other two I know nothing. 

Give me to understand whether this letter reaches your hands uninjured. 
If you are sure of it, write to me when you find it necessary to be quite 

secure of secresy, under cover of a Neapolitan firm to , at Rome, or 

if I have left Italy, in the same way to St. Gall, addressed to . 

The new Austrian postal regulations, to which the unpardonable deten- 
tion of the correspondence at Bologna has certainly afforded a justification, 
place the whole correspondence of Italy under police surveillance. As re- 
gards the speedy dispatch of letters to Germany this is evidently an ad- 
vantage ; but even the letters to Parma must go by way of Mantua. 

With all my heart your friend. 

CCXCVIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Rome, Uth May, 1823. 
It goes to my very heart to think that this is the last letter I shall write 
to you from Rome. We live now like travelers in another house, quite in 
a different quarter. Yesterday I went with Marcus to our old home, which 
the owner is having altered and newly arranged for himself. It was like 
visiting a tomb. During the most gloomy times of our sojourn here, this 
house has always seemed cheerful to me. The side entrance is close to 
the remains of the semicircle of the theatre, once so magnificent. The 
house itself is built upon the ruin. You ascend a high and narrow flight 
of steps, enter a lofty, dimly-lighted ante-chamber, and turning to the right, 
find yourself in an apartment, from which the different parts of the dwell- 
ing-house recede at right angles, inclosing a garden on the same level, as 
both the house and the garden stand on arches and fragments that formed 
the first story of the colossal ruin. Here, all that we saw of Rome was 
the point of a single cupola, and we heard no sound, but the fall of a fount- 
ain in the garden. The owner is having every thing altered ; the whole 
court was crowded with beasts of burden bringing building materials ; our 
sitting-room was full of workmen, who were employed on one side in build- 
ing up the windows, and on the other in breaking through the walls, in 
order to change the windows into glass doors, opening on the garden. The 
marble steps beneath the windows, on which all the children had played 
in their turns, were already broken up — fruit-pieces, painted in fresco, which 
had been a constant source of delight to them, were knocked away — where 
they had so often played and wept, there was no sound but the pick-ax 
of the workmen ; — that garden, the centre of the whole abode, where we 
had so often walked up and down, unless the weather were extraordinarily 
unfavorable, was now desolate and as still as death — most of the rooms 
were shut up, and of one or two only could we obtain a glimpse by peep- 
ing through shutters or keyholes. The sight of what we had lost had made 
our hearts heavy : this scene of destruction and the death-like silence lac- 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 443 

erated them. Marcus has both tender and deep feelings ; he was affected 
as I was. The demolition had even extended to the paintings on the ceil- 
ing, in which the stories of Paradise and the patriarchal times were repre- 
sented, though not by a master's hand, still greatly to the delight of the 
children, whose eyes were constantly attracted thither by the beautiful 
effects of color. They were already bespattered with whitewash, and as 
they had long been partially injured, while the poverty-stricken owner (who 
has lately made a rich match) allowed his princely dwelling to fall to decay, 
they were now destined to destruction. We went round in silence, and I 
told my boy, that as we wished to visit the Aventine once more, we would 
afterward return to gather a few flowers for the last time in our beloved 
garden. We continued our walk in silence and sadness 5 the boy, who 
always tries to conceal sorrow, complained that he was tired, and that his 
feet hurt him ; we sat down on an old wall, and he crept close to me. 
Even running down a path, along which I had often led him, hardly seemed 
to comfort him; he took leave of the river, the "pons Sublicius," the island. 
"Yet I am not so sorry as you are, papa," he said, "for I shall see it all 
again when I grow up." We went back to the desolate house, and gath- 
ered flowers from the plants and creepers which had belonged to us for six 
years, and among which the children had grown up. I reminded myself 
that even if we had not left Rome, we should not have been able to remain 
more than a few days longer in this unequaled abode, and could not have 
saved it from destruction. Still, it was with heavy hearts, hardly restrain- 
ing our tears, and but little consoled by the parting greetings which my 
boy gave to the different buildings we passed, that we returned to our pres- 
ent house. Do not let this make you think Marcus too sensitive, dearest 
Dora; nothing can be farther from the truth. For God's sake, do not 
fancy him affected, or acting a part ; every thing comes from his heart. 
But the ruins, and the city, with its neighborhood, form his world. Do not 
either take me for sentimental, because it seemed to me as though I were 
parting from a friend when I stood before the statue of Marcus Aurelius, 
as the countenance was lit up and animated by the brightest rays of the 
evening sun. I feel very depressed. I leave this place with sorrow, because 
I know that I leave many true advantages behind me which can not be 
replaced, and do not know what awaits me in my own country, whither I 

return as a stranger, and may probably have a bitter life before me 

Farewell ; a long and gloomy period to us both lies behind me, and seems 
now but a short dark night. May God bless you ; may He give Gretchen 
health, may He preserve and develop the dear children! May He give 
me energy and wisdom to make use of the evening of my life 

CCXCIX. 

TO THE COUNT DE SERRE. 

Florence, 22d May, 1823. 
My most reverend Friend — I shall put numbers to my letters that 
you may know and inform me whether, and when any of them are sup- 
pressed. I beg you to do the same 

We have again been delighted with the waterfall of Terni, and admired 
Assisi for the first time. I think you did not see this town of your great 
saint, and the noble buildings called into existence by the influence of a 
great and holy poor man on an age susceptible to such influence. Pray 



444 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

do not choose any other route, on your return, than that which will conduct 
you to Terni and Assisi. Near Narni you will see some grand scenery, 
and if you can spare half an hour, visit the Bridge of Augustus, one of the 
greatest Bom an works ; in Umbria, you will be delighted with the excel- 
lence of the husbandry. At Arezzo, I recommend the Cathedral to your 
attention, for the sake of its extraordinarily beautiful painted glass. 
When you come to the Lake of Thrasimenus, picture to yourself (what 
no historian mentions in this way, but is, notwithstanding, certainly true) 
that Hannibal, when the B/Omans were awaiting him near Bimini, on 
the only high road then opened — that which passed through Bimini and 
Foligno — forced his way from Lucca into Etruria, through the lower val- 
ley of the Arno, then a morass ; and, while the Boman army hastened in 
terror through the most difficult passes of the Apennines toward Arezzo, 
in order to gain the high road to Borne, he turned to the right, and, pass- 
ing by Cortona, marched on Chiusi along the western bank of the lake ; the 
Bomans then advanced along the high road by forced marches toward 
Perugia; but Hannibal faced round, and took the defile of Passignano, 
just as Davoust placed himself in our rear at Kosen, on the unhappy 14th 
of October. Hannibal, however, extended his right wing so far along the 
heights, that he engaged the heads of the Boman columns in the defile, at 
the same time that he pushed back their whole line toward the lake. 

I do not know whether the unfortunate General Vaudoncourt — in whom 
I fancy your country has had no slight loss — has taken this view, no pre- 
vious writer has ; and that is why I write this to you against your journey 
home. Vaudoncourt' s work, though printed at Milan, was not to be got 
at B.ome ! I expect that one of Eonaparte's generals will have perceived, 
what the scholars have not dreamt of, that Hannibal's course before the 
battle of Trevia, was exactly that of Bonaparte before Marengo ; namely, 
that he crossed the Po below Piacenza, and cut the Boman army off from 
the road to Borne ; the Po and the fortresses were behind him ; therefore, 
utter destruction was his doom if he were beaten ; but he knew that he 
should be victorious. 

Here in Tuscany, the traveler is gladdened by the general aspect of pros- 
perity and cheerfulness ; the people appear to be in exactly the condition 
most agreeable to their true mode of life and natural feelings. Their 
moral superiority to the Bomans strikes you immediately, still more so 
their piety, from its contrast to the total absence of it in Borne. You 
must not take it ill of us Protestants, if, after seven years' residence in 
Borne (though the people there often go to church every day), we regard 
this virtue as quite extinct among the Italians, because it is absolutely so 
in the Papal city. We were much edified here on Whit Tuesday by the real 
devotion of an immense multitude. It is, I think, easy to explain why it 
should be precisely at Ptome that religious observances are now simply a 
wearisome task-work. 

To him, however, who knows the history of Florence, it is painful to 
feel how insignificant are the descendants of great forefathers, and how, 
even the monuments themselves would decay and be utterly demolished, 
if most of them were not built as if for eternity. Since we were here 
seven years ago, the facades of several old palaces have been polished up 
with the chisel and whitewashed ! The hotel at which we are staying, 
and which I highly recommend to you (Madame Hubert, in the Borgn 



LETTERS FROM ROME IN 1823. 445 

Santi Apostoli), was the palace of the family Acciaiuoli, whose lion, carved 
in stone, is still to be seen over the doors : this family, now almost extinct, 
numbered, from the thirteenth century onwards, great men of every kind 
among its members. They are everywhere destroying the old decorations 
of the houses, removing the pictures, and, instead of leaving the walls 
covered with paintings, among which there are always some master-pieces, 
having them daubed over with common landscapes by decoration painters. 
One family, Orlandini, did so with their villa quite lately, and gave the 
decorators paintings by way of payment, among which, there was a por- 
trait from Raphael's hand, which some favorite of fortune bought of the 
equally ignorant house-painter for 300 scudi. This is the talk among the 
amateurs. An intelligent German, who has lived here for a considerable 
time, says, that since he has been here, thirteen whole galleries have been 
sold, without including the small collections 

Literature and science seem to have reached their lowest ebb. During 
the seventeenth century, the Florentines still lived in the evening twilight 
of their brilliant day ; they were still full of real love for the old time, the 
material creations of which, as well as all civil forms which did not affect 
the sovereignty, yet existed, and made that time quite present to them ; 
they regarded themselves as citizens of the first city of Europe. During 
the former half of the eighteenth century, the country sank into poverty, 
and the inhabitants lost their acuteness and activity of mind ; then fol- 
lowed a wise government, which restored prosperity to the country, but 
abrogated all the long-descended forms as trammels, and did not, like the 
Medicean, link itself on to the old times. The city began to understand 
that it was only a small part of Europe ; a literary sect strove against the 
evidence of this, and, without a spark of the intellect of the old Florentines, 
wanted to retain the position of their heirs, and rejected every thing that 
had not passed away ; they could see no value in any thing unless it had 
ceased to exist. It seems to me, that there are ultras in every branch of 
human affairs, and in every age, when a discord arises between the old 
and the new. Another party, to which all men of the world attached 
themselves, seized on the ridiculous side of the former, became cosmopoli- 
tan, and found a source of satisfaction in the common welfare of Europe, 
while evading the obligation of accomplishing anything themselves. Thus 
every thing has gone to decay. 

The aforesaid literary aristocracy has at last become quite democratic, 
and is just now engaged in collecting from the mouth of the porters and 
maid-servants, as the possessors of the treasures of the old language, the 
idioms which they desire to impose upon the writers of Italy. Does not 
this union between that aristocracy which only consists in pretensions, and 
the proletarians from whom alone it has nothing to fear, exist also in 
political history ? I have found it in that of Rome. 

During the few days that we were in Rome it was impossible to read 
through the documents laid before Parliament. Very likely they will have 
ceased to be topics of conversation by the time that I shall have leisure to 
read them in any place where they can be procured, and my hasty survey 
of the debates was enough to make me think, like you, that Canning is 
playing a miserable part; the assumptions, on the strength of which he 
went to such rash lengths in his expressions at the opening of Parliament, 
have not been confirmed, and therefore, his system has been altered. I am 



446 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

further certain, that even the English Cabinet would have seen no occur- 
rence so unwillingly as the introduction of guarantees by France ; from 
this fear they are, I should think, quite delivered. The declaration of the 
Junta might, however, have very hazardous consequences, or on the other 
hand, very favorable ones, if they adroitly agreed to recognize the interest due 
on the English demands, which they must do some time, and made it payable. 

The course of the military movements in Spain, so far, is exactly what 
might be expected in such a state of decay and moral degradation. I 
snow, indeed, nothing since the head-quarters were fixed in Burgos. The 
mention of fevers gave me anxiety, and I feel grieved that up to this time, 
as far as we can see, none but the clergy and the proletarians have come 
forward actively in favor of the counter-revolution ; there is no mention of 
the higher classes of the laity. Thus appearances seem to point toward a 
repetition of the system which was so unfortunately adopted at Naples after 
1799. After all, such a decay as that by which Spain falls to pieces at the 
first blow, is a terrible sight ! So rotten has Europe become through rev- 
olution ! The aspect of this is so threatening for us all, that one can not 
really abandon one's self to exultation at the exposure of the vaunts of the 
Liberals. The disease must constantly gain ground. 

I can well conceive that the population of France must be increasing at 
an enormous rate, as ours with 12,000,000 under so much less favorable 
circumstances, is increasing at the rate of more than 150,000 a year. We 
are all weighed down by the impossibility of emigration on a large scale. 
However, we shall infallibly be one day visited by fearful pestilences, which 
will again produce a receding tide in the number of human beings, as in the 
fourteenth century ; when, at all events, the greater part of Italy and Ger- 
many were much more thickly peopled than they are even now 

ccc. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

St. Gall, 16th June, 1823. 

We have found the Tyrolese as warm-hearted and lovable as on 

our journey hither ; I think there can be no doubt that the true, noble part 
of the German character has nowhere been so distinctly preserved as among 
this simple primitive people. We found now, as before, the most sincere 
desire to oblige. At Innspruck, I made the acquaintance of a merchant, 
who was a member of the municipal administration, and was in all respects 
what one could wish a citizen to be. These people scarcely read even the 
meagre journal that appears in their country ; they think of nothing but 
their immediate calling and their duties ; and the few who have heard a 
vague rumor that there is such thing as liberalism in the world, are quite 
anti-liberal. As regards their own condition, they would strongly wish that 
most things should remain in the old track ; but they resign themselves 
quietly and cheerfully to what can not be helped, and alleviate the pressure 
of the times by frugality and contentedness. The communes are now 
obliged to redeem the heavy communal debts by very high rates ; they set 
themselves manfully to the work, and rejoice that they can look forward to 
an end of it. The peculiar Tyrolese character, cast of features, and cos- 
tume, do not extend quite to the Arlberg. Before you reach the latter, you 
meet with that curious mode of building, houses entirely of wood, which is 



RETURN TO GERMANY. 447 

common in Switzerland. The language, too, gradually changes into the 
Swabian Swiss. The race is quite different from the Tyrolese, namely, 
Swabian ; while the latter are Bavarians. The Tyrolese have no gardens 
and no bee-hives, while both are common in the Vorarlberg and among the 

Swabian Swiss 

The little town of Rheinek is old-fashioned and extremely cheerful-look- 
ing ; else the general aspect of Switzerland betrays a surprising amount of 
poverty, even among the inhabitants of the beautiful districts I have de- 
scribed,* and their dwellings, quite unlike the villages in the Vorarlberg, 
which, nevertheless, unquestionably pay much higher taxes. But Switzer- 
land is overpeopled beyond endurance, and this evil is constantly increasing ; 
a man, whose word may be trusted, says, that in the Canton of Appenzell, 
out of five families, scarcely one has a house of its own and a plot of ground. 
The appearance of the children is by no means so blooming as in the 
Vorarlberg and the Tyrol ; neither do the grown people look so robust or so 
cheerful. While, in the Tyrol, a stranger is not charged more than a native, 
and the traveling journeyman, for instance, will not ask you for any thing, 
or if they do, it is incredibly little, and demanded with embarrassment, it 
is notorious how the Swiss cheat travelers, and try to suck the very blood 
out of them. The Tyrolese seem stanch Catholics ; but their superabund- 
ant belief is only a light outer garment, which does not conceal the essence 
of true piety. It is no obtusely superstitious people that affix such proverbs 
to their houses as the following, which I have recollected : 

"We build us bouses large and strong, 
Where we're but guests, nor tarry long, 
Careless a mansion to secure, 
Which might for evermore endure." 

"This house is mine, and yet not mine, 
If thou com'st next it is not thine, 
And if a third should take our place, 
He'll still be in the self-same case, 
The fourth too, men will bear away 
Whose is the house then, can you say?" 

"He who will build beside the way, 
Must little care what people say; 
But if he show his skill and art, 
His work itself will take his part."t 



* A thick forest of fruit-trees, among which the houses were scattered aepa* 
rately at some distance from the road, 
t In the original : 

" Wir bauen Hauser gross und fest, 

Darin wir nur seyn fremde Gast: 

Und da wir sollen ewig seyn 

Da bauen wir gar wenig ein." 
"Das Hjaus ist mein, und doch nicht mein. 

Der nach mir kommt, ist auch nicht sein ; 

Und wird's dem Dritten ubergeben, 

So wird's ihm eben so ergehen. 

Den Vierten tragt man auch binaus ; 

Ei, sagt mir doch ! wess ist das Haus 1" 
" Wer da bauet an der Gassen, 

Der muss die Leute reden lassen. 

Doch hat er seine Kunst erprobt, 

Alsdann das Werk den Meister Iobt." 



448 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

CCCI. 
TO COUNT DE SERRE. 

St. Gall, 30th June, 1823. 

Your consolatory letter, my revered and beloved friend, reached us a few 
hours after I had taken mine to the post. We have thanked God from our 
hearts that he has averted the peril that threatened you so fearfully. May 
He secure to you the possession of the sweet child by bracing her feeble 
powers, and grant you and yours the joy of living blessings ! 

I thank you heartily for having calmed our anxieties 5 still worse, and 
apparently later tidings, than those contained in your first letter, had 
reached us from Rome, so that we had scarcely any hope left. Besides, 
for a long time past, I have ceased to possess the faculty of hope, strictly 
speaking. I thank you with equal warmth for all the rest of your letter. 

We are not able as yet to say positively how long we shall remain here; 
I can not exactly calculate how long it will take me to get through the 
work that the library presents. The interesting discoveries I have made 
here, are fragments of a panegyric in prose, and another in verse, on the 
great iEtius, who defeated Attila at Chalons. Scarcely any contemporary 
writings have been preserved from this period, which immediately preceded 
the fall of the Western Empire, and our knowledge of it is extremely 
scanty ; on this account, these relics possess great interest, and also be- 
cause they bring to light many facts that were previously quite unknown. 
They have also a still stronger interest for me, because they establish a 
circumstance of which I had long been certain, and had said so, but found 
few disposed to believe me; namely, that in this horrible fifth century 
there was much intellect, much more than in tbe preceding one. During 
the long cheerless apathy of the Roman Empire, all intellect had died out; 
people did not trouble themselves about the border war that was attended 
with no danger, and were only occupied with the lowest sensual enjoy- 
ments. The irruption of the Barbarians placed the existence of each in- 
dividual at stake ; through sheer self-love men learned that they had a 
father-land. Isolated great men appeared, and awakened genuine admira- 
tion ; these panegyrics, in prose and verse, have been inspired by such 
sentiments. Religion filled men's hearts and thoughts ; and the death- 
struggle of the old religion (of which my fragments contain an unexpected 
example), at least fired the imagination. Another interesting discovery, 
of quite a different kind, in some leaves, written at the latest in the sixth 
century, belonging to a liturgy much earlier than any of those extant ; 
morning devotions of a very ancient date, that seem to belong to the 
Stationes, referred to at the beginning of the third century — extremely 
simple and venerable prayers. I am copying them for a good and learned 
monk, as a token of gratitude for his friendship ; he can not read the de- 
faced writing, but he will be able to edit them with much more knowledge 
of the subject than I. Besides these, I have a Latin Grammarian to copy out, 
who adds several words, not occurring elsewhere, to our stock of pure 
Latinity. This i? a tedious job, and I wish some one else were here to do 
it ; however, there is no one else here. 

From hence we go to Zurich, where I also intend to look at the MSS., 
and shall perhaps find something. I wonder if our stay there will be more 
agreeable than here ? I do not believe it will, except that the Lake of 



RETURN TO GERMANY. 449 

Zurich affords a very different prospect from the uninteresting valley in 
which this town is situated, and the view we have from the heights here, 
where the shapeless outlines of the nearer and remoter mountains appear 
to form but one range. The cheerless part of the business lies in the dis- 
positions of the people. The Revolution has dispelled all illusions; it was 
the fruit of the tree of knowledge that brought death in the day in which 
it was eaten. 

For here every thing dates from 1803 and 1814. Men between thirty 
and forty years of age, who belong to the government, have not an idea 
what the constitution was before 1798. The dissatisfaction and discom- 
fort which are every where blighting all happiness, exist here, quite as 
much as in those monarchies which are the farthest removed from fancied 
perfection — but no one seems to ask the reason of it. Is it not clear, how- 
ever, that any constitution must produce miserable results, which calls far 
too great a number from the midst of absolute mediocrity, to power and a 
conspicuous station '? In this new canton, numbering about 130,000 souls, 
among whom the inhabitants of the little capital (amounting to 8000) 
hold the same relation as those of any metropolis to the provincials, nine 
individuals are to be found for the Little Council and the government ; 
then, further, the judges of a Court of Appeal, 150 deputies for the Legisla- 
tive Council, a dozen under-prefects, more than forty mayors, a dozen 
courts of justice, besides municipalities, &c. Civil and criminal codes are 
formed, laws compiled, innumerable resolutions and enactments passed. 
Such a system can inspire no respect. 

The ferment in Ireland is, perhaps, the most unmistakable symp- 
tom of the sickness that has spread through the whole body of society in 
Europe, from which the spirit of civil union has more or less taken its 
departure. Sooner or later the constitution will have to be annulled in 
Ireland. 

The revolution in Chili is very unfortunate. The wisdom, of the dictator, 
O'Eiggins, was incontestably proved by the instructions he gave to the en- 
voy whom he dispatched to Rome. I should rather look upon the recovery 
of Spanish America as easy than impossible, if your government can 
venture to afford assistance to Spain. But that would, perhaps, be too 
dangerous a step. 

CCCII. 

Frankfort, 17th August, 1823. 

I thank you with my whole heart for your faithful and wise 

counsel about our future : but you are quite wrong in apologizing for it. 
I will write you a full answer as soon as we have found a place where I 
can have a room besides the nursery to write in. We hope for this at Bonn, 
where we shal. arrive in four or five days from now. 

Up to this time, Heidelberg is the only place where I have enjoyed my- 
self since we left the Tyrol. No doubt you know the town ; it is impos- 
sible for an inland place to be more finely situated. I could not tear my- 
self away from it, and remained there day after day. I saw again there a 
friend of my youth. I had looked forward with some dread to the meet- 
ing, because he has been involved in an acrimonious literary contest with 
Savigny, who is my nearest and dearest friend ; and also because thirty 
years ago he was a fanatical admirer of the Revolution. I found that his 



450 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

misunderstanding with Savigny had terminated reasonably, and that his 
views of the world were as sensible as possible : such conversions are, how- 
ever, rare among us. But there is a feud between him and an aged man, 
of great celebrity in our literature, Voss, the translator of Homer, with 
whom I have remained on terms of friendship from my childhood up, in 
spite of a thousand circumstances calculated to disturb it, and upon whom 
I can not turn my back, now that he is in his seventy-second year; and it 
is impossible to remain neutral between them, else we should probably 
have decided on stopping at Heidelberg. 

My noble friend, since you take so much interest in the account of my 
journey, I have still much to tell you ; and this shall be my first employ- 
ment at Bonn, as afterward you will be my Muse of history. I have seen 
and experienced some remarkable things, of which I will certainly send 
you an account by post. 

Please God, the Spanish war is approaching its termination ; and yet I 
see no other end for it than absolute despotism, on the whole, with exten- 
sive provincial privileges. I rejoice in your successes ; this is clear, that 
success has been never less abused than by your noble prince and your 
army. But shall I not also tell you that now, since we have become so 
closely bound together, I sympathize in all that relates to your father-land, 
as if it concerned myself, while I had already regarded it with very differ- 
ent feelings from my former ones, ever since you had appeared as a pure 
light in the firmament of your political world ; that is, ever since the ad- 
vent of freedom in connection with royalty, and your own appearance on 
the political stage ? 

We are on our way now to visit Savigny, while he is at a watering- 
place. I wish, both for his sake and yours, that you knew each other. 
My wife unites with me in best greetings to yourself, your wife, and the 
dear children ; Marcus keeps both parents and children in his faithful 
heart. It is a pity that the interruptions of the journey encourage his in- 
dolence 

CCCIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Frankfort, 18tfi August, 1823. 

The stream* was full and the spectacle grand ; still the rocks 

between which it forces its way, have an uncouth shape, and one should 
visit the place before one goes to Italy, not after one has seen the purely 
beautiful forms of the Velino and the Arno at Tivoli. The Swiss mount- 
ains in general have a painfully rude and mis-shapen aspect, from their 
jagged, quite inharmonic forms ; the Tyrolese mountains are much more 
beautiful, and so are the mountains near Heidelberg, which are really not 
inferior to the graceful outlines of the most beautiful Italian mountains ; 
they only want the coloring and the sky. 

The promised beauties of the valley of the Neckar did not show them- 
selves till about a [German] mile before Heidelberg, when indeed they far 
exceeded my expectation, and would have exceeded it. even if every thing 
since we left the Tyrol had not been so far below my conceptions. The 
scene was so lovely that I left the carriage, with Marcus, and went on foot 
to the town. It was evening, and we did not visit our acquaintance till 
* The falls of the Rhine at Schaffhansen. 



RETURN TO GERMANY. 451 

the next morning ; Thibaut was gone into the country, his wife at church. 
We set off, not without some uneasiness, on the long walk to Voss's Gar- 
den. His reception was not cordial, and not unfriendly in its shy way ; 
painful subjects were not touched upon, and I could soon see my way so 
as to avoid them. On subsequent occasions Voss often alluded to his posi- 
tion toward Thibaut, but never so directly as to make it unavoidable for 
me to understand him, and reply to him. Not till the fourth day did he 
speak of his attack upon Stolberg, when he brought me his last publica- 
tion,* not his first. I warded off all explanation, and it went no further. 
To my great astonishment he judges very correctly with respect to the rest 
of the Wessenbergians.f He is not disinclined to believe that the youth 
are led astray by their instructors, because philology has been very badly 
treated by the Liberals. Any one who has watched the course of history, 
as I have done, during the last seven years, in Western and Southern Eu- 
rope, must be roused to indignation by the lies of the Neckar Journal, which 
guides public opinion here. But the most exasperating thing is the Nn- 
poleonism of South Germany. 

Voss did not look in the least aged since 1803 ; he is perfectly unchanged 
in body and mind ; his wife is weak and infirm. Fearing that we might 
probably find it difficult to get on with him. we only expressed the inten- 
tion of remaining a single day. But as every tiling seemed likely to go 
on more smoothly than we could have expected, and the neighborhood was 
more beautiful than we could hope to see it again, we lingered day after 
day, and did not leave till Friday, instead of Monday. We divided all this 
time between the Vosses and the Thibauts. I have found Thibaut very 
unprejudiced, and very sound in his views upon all general subjects ; 
friendly, and open. His children are admirably brought up, and the eld- 
est boy has a singularly noble and amiable disposition. Our children were 
as if in heaven in his exquisitely beautiful garden, and their loveliness won 
all hearts ; Marcus was quite admired for his ability and acuteness. One 
evening the children were there alone, and Marcus delighted every body by 
the sharpness of his answers, combined with his perfectly childlike man- 
ners. 

I have made the acquaintance of one truly excellent man there, the his- 
torian Schlosser (from Jever). This I see, that my History has now ac- 
quired an authority which no attacks can shake. I staid a day at Darm- 
stadt, and looked through the MSS., which contain nothing of consequence. 
We are staying a day and a half here in Frankfort, to have the opportu- 
nity of writing some letters in a hotel where we are not packed quite so 
closely together. I have only one old acquaintance here, for whom a few 
hours will suffice : in those, however, I shall gain much information from 
him. The embassadors I mean to ignore 

* " Wie F. L. Stolberg unfrei geworden ist." 

t Wessenberg was a liberal Catholic ecclesiastic, who wished for a reform in 
the Catholic Church, and had many followers in Germany. Niebuhr believed 
him to be a well-intentioned, but superficial man, quite unfit to play the part of 
a reformer. 



CHAPTER XI. 

NIEBUHR'S RESIDENCE IN BONN, FROM AUGUST, 1823, 
TO JANUARY, 1831. 

1823, 1824. 

Niebuhr had scarcely arrived in Bonn when Steinacker's at- 
tack on him in his edition of Cicero "De Republica," fell into his 
hands, which wounded him more deeply than it probably would 
have done at another time, because it embittered his return to his 
own country. It gave rise to two pamphlets in his own defense 
on Niebuhr' s part. For himself, the controversy had, however, one 
favorable result ; for while engaged in investigating the points in 
dispute, he suddenly perceived the solution of a difficulty which 
had been the chief cause of his delay in continuing the History of 
Rome. This discovery decided him to resume the work, which 
had been so long laid aside, and he received it as a happy omen 
that the day on which he formed this resolution was the an- 
niversary of his betrothal with his first wife, to whom he 
had promised on her death-bed that he would finish his great 
work. 

In September, 1823, he paid a visit to M. Von Stein at Nas- 
sau, but postponed his intended journey to Berlin on account of 
the absence of the Crown Prince. On his return, he set to work 
on his Roman History, at which he labored with such assiduity, 
that he completed the half of the third volume in the course of 
the winter, except its final revision. Indisposition afterward in- 
terrupted his studies. He then began to revise the two former 
volumes for a second edition (the first being out of print), in 
which he wished to embody the results of his maturer researches. 
He would have preferred to finish the sketch of the third volume 
at once, but the alterations necessary in the two earlier volumes 
occupied him so deeply that they withdrew his thoughts from the 
later portion. 

His studies were again interrupted in the spring by his wife's 
confinement with a second son, and afterward by his journey to 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 453 

Berlin, before which, however, he found time to prepare a new 
edition of Merobaudes for publication. 

In May, 1824, he went to Berlin, visiting M. Yon Stein on his 
way. There he presented himself to the King, saw the Crown 
Prince, with whom he renewed his former friendship, and greatly 
enjoyed the meeting with his friends. But his happiness was soon 
disturbed by tidings from home : all his four younger children 
were taken ill in succession, and the infant died on the 4th of June, 
after severe suffering. Niebuhr, however, experienced at this 
time a circumstance which often occurs in human life — that a 
greater calamity helps to lift us above smaller evils, and quickens 
our sense of the blessings still left to us. The death of the child 
raised him above other crosses and cares, and turned his thoughts 
to that which he still possessed, but might also lose. The recol- 
lection of the advantages he had enjoyed in Rome, and the 
uncertainty which hung over his future prospects, had hitherto 
frequently exercised a very depressing influence on him. He now 
resolved to request a definite release from his duties as embassa- 
dor, and, after repeated applications, at length obtained it, with a 
provisional salary equal in amount to what he had received before 
he left Berlin. He thus at last obtained leisure to devote himself 
to the studies which he had always regarded as his true vocation. 
He had now decided to settle in Bonn, but the course of his em- 
ployments was interrupted by a summons to Berlin, to attend the 
sittings of the Council of State during the ensuing winter. He 
therefore returned to Berlin toward the end of November, and 
sper*t the winter principally in working with two Commissions, 
appointed by the Council of State to deliberate on the erection of 
a National Bank, and the tenure of land among the Westphaliau 
pe&santry. 

The death of De Serre, in the autumn of 1824, affected him 
deeply. Madame de Serre wished that he should write her hus- 
band's life, and invited him to come to Paris in order to examine 
the documents Which she could not send him. It was Niebuhr' s 
full intention to raise this monument to the memory of his friend, 
but various circumstances hindered his visit to France, and at 
length his own sudden death frustrated the design. 



454 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Letters from September, 1823, to May, 1825. 

CCCIV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 10th September, 1823. 
I get constantly more and more ill at ease the longer this existence 
without a present and a future continues ; all that comes under my notice 
makes an unfavorable impression on me. Wherever you go, you hear 
nothing but dissensions and quarrels, without being able to sympathize 
with any party. The feuds between the various factions and nuances 
among the Catholics for instance, naturally strike me in this way, as also 
their discussions with the Protestants. The people know that I understand 
the points in question, and am logically fair. I know very well too, what 
is logical, just, and true ; but in such disputes I can not take any kind of 
interest. It is the same with every thing. Literature seems to me as 
good as dead, the moral condition of the nation mournful, according to the 
accounts I hear from persons of the most opposite tendencies, some of whom 
are far from finding offensiveness offensive. Frivolity, a striving after ease 
and leisure, and the want of a proper sense of duty pervade the whole of 
society. In these pursuits our nation cuts a very awkward figure, as Jacobi 
prophesied more than forty years ago. 

I find myself greeted here with a malicious and rancorous literary attack, 
by people whose waters I never thought to trouble. And so this then is 
my reception to the bosom of my father-land ! 

We must give up our journey to Paris ; there are too many difficulties 
in the way. I shall, therefore, leave for Berlin the day after to-morrow, 
and visit M. von Stein in my way thither ; he has repeatedly invited me, 
and loss of time and extra distance must not be taken into the account in 
visiting a man so far advanced in years. 

Brandis has received us with his old heartiness and warmth. 

Another acquaintance of ours is a Catholic Professor of Theology, who 
staid for some time in our house at Rome — Dr. Scholz — as thoroughly 
good a man as Brandis. A Protestant theologian, named Nitsch, seems 
a man of extremely distinguished talent. 

cccv. 

TO COUNT DE SERRE. 

Bonn, 8 th October, 1823. 

Such an affront as the pamphlet I have alluded to could not be 

left unnoticed in the face of our reading (and only reading) nation ; I be- 
gan an answer to it, and five times without success. A last attempt 
pleased me better, though it is by no means what I could have produced 
in the best years of my youth. But while engaged on it, a light unex- 
pectedly broke in upon my mind, illustrating a point in the Roman history, 
of whose elucidation I had despaired for twelve years. This consoled me, 
and inspired me with fresh vigor. It happened that this light related to 
the great change in the comitia, as regards the electoral law, and I now 
gained a complete insight into its import, which I had previously misun- 
derstood to a great extent, as most others have done entirely ; namely, I 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 455 

saw that its tendency was to bring the elections under the influence of the 
landed proprietors and hereditary citizens, without excluding the trades and 
the citizens not possessing an ancestry. You were constantly in my mind 
while I was writing ; and my heart beat, when I discovered who the great 
Roman was, who once effected what you too have accomplished ; and as a 
reward for his work, was surnamed Maximus by his nation, a title which 
five consulates and triumphs had not been sufficient to procure for him. 

It so happened that I gained this new light on the anniversary of my 
betrothal to my late wife, whose last wish was that I should finish my 
History; and the coincidence kindled my courage to undertake the con- 
tinuation which had been so long delayed. Thus my life is no longer 
without a vocation, and my melancholy, therefore, is vanquished. Do you 
know what has made me recognize most clearly all that you are to me ? 
That in my dejection, I longed inexpressibly to see you, and no less when 
serenity was restored to my overclouded mind. Do not understand me as 
setting any value upon the little essay that you are expecting and shall 
have ; the execution of the great work will not interfere with it 

The inclosed is the first of a series of communications respecting the 
state of Germany, the continuation of which you shall receive from time 
to time.* God bless you and yours, my only late-found friend ! May He 
keep and defend you ! My wife and children unite with me in hearty love 
to you and your dear family. 

CCCVI. 

TO MADAME HEX3LER. 

Bonn, 29lh October, 1823. 

I have now worked through a very difficult chapter in the His- 
tory. I have no lack of ideas, but I feel that I have grown old and drier 
than I should be under other circumstances ; outward things disturb me, 
even the dear interruptions caused by the children. It is but too certain 
that there is a perfection in authorship unattainable, except where the 
author has no children, or acts as if he had none ; which God forbid ! 
Another great difficulty arises from the absence of my own library. 

We have made an excursion to Cologne, which has not disappointed my 
expectations, but in many respects exceeded them ; although the city is 
ugly, and has been despoiled of most of its works of art. The prebends, 
who were never reduced to actual want, sold many of the treasures during 
their emigration, and even a part of the golden shrine that contains the 
pretended relics of the Three Holy Kings — the jewels as well as the gold 
plate. A mere accident saved the greater part of them from destruction. 
Such was the conduct of the men who made an outcry about sacrilege, 
because they had been driven, it must be confessed very unjustly, from 
their benefices ! 

It is cheering to see the universal prosperity in the Prussian Rhenish 
provinces, which proves that the government has at least the merit of 
pressing very lightly on the people. You see improvements making in all 
directions, and fresh land brought under tillage wherever it is capable of 
it. I hear that this is particularly the case along the Moselle, where the 
wines have reached a higher price than has ever been known before. 

* The paper alluded to is on the political condition of Switzerland, and is 
published in the Lebensnachrichten, vol. iii. p. 423, 



456 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

The population of Cologne has increased by 8000 ; for centuries houses 
have been pulled down ; now new ones are building, and it is said that 
rents have risen to double their former amount. The same change is tak- 
ing place to a still greater extent here, at Diisseldorf, at Coblentz, and at 
every town you hear of. 

But for the difference of religion, the people would soon be reconciled to 
their new rulers, because they are really well off; but unhappily the Rhen- 
ish Catholics are either, on the one hand, free-thinkers and Jacobins, or, 
on the other, bigots, who can feel no attachment to a heretical sovereign. 

The government really makes incredible efforts for public instruction, 
and quite without regard to expense ; but the priests look upon all these 
institutions with jealousy and mistrust, although the government, which 
committed some errors at first, now wisely avoids every thing which could 
really give them occasion for uneasiness. 

If you compare the state of these provinces with the aspect of things in 
Baden, Wurtemberg, Darmstadt, where impoverishment and misery every 
where betray themselves, you feel how much better off the people are under 
present circnmstances in great States than in small ones. Moreover, you 
are often reminded how much fewer blunders are made in a large State 
than in a small one : because, as soon as you go beyond the limits of a 
city, the problem of the government is always the same ; and supposing, 
in both cases, the same want of skill in the choice of competent persons, 
yet in small States the number of such is necessarily so much smaller, and 
there is less chance of their appointment by a fortunate accident. 

The Catholic religion, such as it is in these parts, is called, even by 
orthodox Catholics, benighted heathenism. For example, on processions 
to a place in this neighborhood, a fellow dances on a tight rope, with a 
banner in his hand, to the sound of Turkish music, as soon as the Litany 
is over. These absurd exhibitions were forbidden under the French rule ; 
they have been allowed to creep into use again by the mildness of our 
government, and I myself, were I in authority, should fear to act tyranni- 
cally in forbidding them. The clergy is constantly sinking into deeper 
ignorance ; the Vicar-general promotes fellows who have been to no school 
whatever, and refuses to receive those who have studied at the University. 
What is to become of the Catholic religion God knows ! It may re-estab- 
lish itself in the same tcay that it did after the suppression of the Reforma- 
tion, and then the ignorance prevailing in the Catholic countries of Ger- 
many will become still denser. But this proves, above all things, how 
powerless Protestantism is nowadays. 

Events in Spain are turning out, step for step, just as I expected ; 
among other things, the fall and banishment of the noblest men, such as 
the Marquis de las Amarillas, who, after having in vain endeavored to 
induce the King to give guarantees against the renewal of his tyranny, 
remained in the palace on the night of the 7th of July, in order to die 
with the royal family, if a 10th of August followed; not to speak of the 
proscription of the noble-hearted Valdes, who did indeed pursue a phantom 
in his attachment to the Constitution, but whose whole conduct had been 
without a spot for four years, and who had prevented the shedding of 
blood after the 7th of July, at the peril of his own life. I have foreseen 
all this, and yet my wishes have been on the side of the result which has 
actually ensued. We have witnessed a strange issue of affairs, which 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 457 

must force us to look with profound contempt upon our age ; it has been 
for years impossible to hope for a happy issue, because the revolutionists 
aave rendered that out of the question. Of the two extreme results, the 
actual seems to me the preferable one, though a shocking abuse will be 
made of it every where. As a member of the middle class, for the sake 
of my son, the consolidation of a decaying aristocracy is a subject of re- 
gret ; but with us, in Germany, it can never become so loathsome as Lib- 
eralism. The burning fever of the Revolution has spent itself, like a pes- 
tilence that at last vanishes spontaneously. A very unintellectual period 
will come now, but we shall have repose, and be able to return to the 
quiet life of our grandfathers, who were not, however, threatened like our- 
selves with subjugation by barbarians. 

I recognize and duly estimate the force of your reasons, dear Dora, 
against resigning my post at Rome ; but you can not understand how im- 
possible it would be to take Gretchen back there, since her health is cer- 
tainly much better in the air of Germany, and, above all, she has so great 
a dislike to the life we led in Italy 

CCCVII. 

B-ON.v, nth December, 1823. 

I turn to answer one part of your letter. It must certainly be 

owing to some carelessness in expressing myself, that you could suppose I 
mearct to say any thing to the disadvantage of the Germans as compared 
w'ch the Italians. God forbid ! What I mean is, that 1 ought to have 
an adequate compensation for what I give up in point of health and com- 
fort, and the variety of interesting objects of contemplation, if I am not to 
feel that I have lost by the exchange. The case is different with any one 
who has retained his youthful connections in Germany. I come back to a 
world in which the opposing parties are impelled and guided by vague 
sentiments and heated passions, and all alike have adopted their opinions 
on the authority of newspapers, periodicals, and the Conversations-Lexi- 
con ; and in these authorities they put such faith, that they anathematize 
every one who has more insight than themselves. I would just as soon 
talk about religion with a bigoted Catholic peasant, as converse with such 
people about the weightiest concerns of the world. Such wisdom I may 
dare to despise, when three men, of three such different nations, and each 
of them the first, or among the first men of their own nation, as M. Von 
Stein, M. de Serre, and Lord Colchester, give me credit for a profound 
knowledge of the material and intellectual condition of the leading states 
of Europe, ask me for my opinion, and take my verdict on matters as an 
authority, while in these trivial circles every one is wiser than I. 

Although I grant you that the state of affairs in Germany might be 
much more cheering, if the governments were better, you must also con- 
cede to me that these governments are a part of the nation ; so much so 
that the difficulty would not be so much to find one man with right views, 
but how such a one would form a ministry: and supposing he accom- 
plished this, where would he find his subordinate officials, and members 
of the provincial governments. There is the great difficulty. It is easy 
to say that you must set bounds to arbitrary power by Chambers and 
municipalities ; I say so too, for it is true ; onjy no effectual assistance is 
to be hoped from them. For instance, I have always opposed the system 
U 



458 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

of regulating public instruction throughout the monarchy by the central 
government, and wished that the schools should again, as formerly, be 
placed under the superintendence of the clergy and local authorities. But 
then we are met by examples which show how much worse things are 
where this is the case ; not only here, where the Catholic priests aim at 
excluding the laity of their own church from the schools, or in Coblentz, 
where men who wore the red cap during the Revolution, and carried the 
goddess of Reason about, having now turned devotees, though remaining 
as arrant Jacobins as ever in politics, are straining every nerve to displace 
or worry to death the upright, learned Catholic Director of the Gymnasium 
— but even in Berlin itself, where the civic authorities, and very respect- 
able men among them, openly avow the wish (and actively exert them- 
selves to further it in the Gymnasium which is under their jurisdiction) to 
depress the study of philology, and to make instruction in the so-called 
useful branches of knowledge predominant. The nobility cherish oligarch- 
ical pretensions, and yet will on no account consent to strengthen the 
basis of their order ; our order does not know what it wants. Had the 
men in whose hands the decision lay, attempted to erect a constitution 
among us in 1816, every thing would have gone to pieces by now. Our 
gymnastic heroes would have managed no better. I have never ceased 
to mourn over the persecutions which were set on foot at that time ; 
but if a terrible Fate has decreed that these severities should have been 
committed, or that we should have continued on the path we were then 
treading, and suffered the whole youth of the country to be turned into 
madmen and savages, at all events the least of two bitter evils has be- 
fallen us. What fellows they were who then excited universal sympathy 
as martyrs ! Veiy many of them have veered round to the opposite ex- 
treme. The better members of this sect had learnt nothing, and made at 
least as extravagant claims to be supported by the State, as you could find 
among any young scions of nobility. I can nowhere see solid ground ; 
and truly I am not alone in my dark forebodings. With the most irre- 
proachable intentions, and sincerely thinking to benefit the agricultural 
population, they are ruining the whole peasant class by giving them power 
to sell, to cut up, and to mortgage their land ; and every thing is tending 
in the same direction. The lowest and most superficial views have be- 
come universally prevalent ; and whether ministries or Chambers have to 
decide upon measures, you obtain the same results. Men are not ill-in- 
tentioned ; but in all the German states that are not stationary, the ten- 
dency of the legislation is, according to the saying of a distinguished man, 
to bring our nation to the level of the Italians : in the towns, half-skilled 
artisans and petty tradesmen ; in the country, miserable ten ants -at-will, 
and day laborers. With an agricultural population like that of Wurtem- 
burg, can you ask for freedom ? 

Believe me, dearest Dora, these are not prejudices. I have studied the 
history of the legislation of many nations, through a series of centuries, and 
hence I know where we are standing, and whither we are going. In our 
nation there are men as excellent, both in mind and heart, as are to be 
found any where, and such as many nations, the Italians for instance, do 
not possess at all, or very rarely. Here is Brandis, Nitzsch (an extraor- 
dinary man), and several others among the professors in Bonn, are worthy 
of all honor. One of the most distinguished, whom 1 should probably never 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 459 

have heard of, in his retired comer, if he had not sent me some essays 
through M. Von Stein, is a Dr. Schulze, in Hamm, unquestionably a real 
historical genius, and moreover an admirable writer : so too I became ac- 
quainted with Pertz and Bluhme when in Rome. But sound sense and 
sound morality are not general among us, as they were with our forefathers. 
In the pettiest towns there are billiards and clubs, and family life exists no 
longer. The Revolution is vanquished, and whoever now fears revolts, 
sees phantoms ; but as to what will come next, I have no presentiment of 
good. 

M. Yon Stein has invited us all warmly and repeatedly to his house. At 
this time of the year it is impossible to take all the children ; but I shall 
go myself alone to Nassau for two or three days. He warns us touchingly 
to remember his age, and that if we do not see each other as often as pos- 
sible our meeting may soon become impossible forever. He has become 
quite gentle, and his behavior toward me has a sort of fatherly tenderness. 
I believe that he has much to bear 

CCCVIII. 

Boxn, 6th January, 1824. 
Marcus has had a violent attack of influenza. The child was obliged to 
keep his bed two days : I remarked, altogether, that the physician here 
had returned to the old precautionary measures. This will therefore prob- 
ably be the present fashion in medicine, with which I am very well satis- 
fied if it only lasts. That medical art consists in fashion is indeed nothing 
new : we may thank God when no desperate systems happen to be in vogue. 
Marcus was very good and amiable during his illness ; he is certainly a 
much better child than I was, though I may have been, perhaps, more easy 
to educate. Goschen teases him too much with learning hymns by rote. 
I have no objection at all to learning by rote, particularly as the boy finds 
a difficulty in it, while all his recollections of principles and observations 
are ineffaceable. I wish, I strive with all my heart, that he may grow up 
with the most absolute faith in religion, yet so that his faith may not be 
an outward adhesion that must fall away from him afterward, when his 
reason comes into play, but, that from his earliest years the way may be 
prepared for the union of faith and reason. I should therefore quite ap- 
prove hymns, but that the number of those adapted to a child not yet seven 
years old is so small ; for where they can present no idea to his mind, the 
difficult sentences are a torment to him. To a happy child, hymns de- 
ploring the misery of human life are without meaning; so, likewise to a 
good child, are those expressing self-accusation and contrition. In all de- 
partments of education, it is certainly a main point not to come to any 
thing too early, and that holds good here as well as in learning. I am 
succeeding admirably in exercising the powers of his mind, by efforts ex- 
actly proportioned to them, so that I can say with confidence, that he has 
not a single thought beyond his age, none that is not quite suitable to a 
child ; and yet he often delights us with the originality of his ideas. I 
always oblige him to reflect, and to set himself right within his own sphere- 
It was not departing from it that he asked, during his illness, " in Latin 
there are already five tenses ; but what tense of a verb is that when you 
want to express that you are on the point of doing something ? It can not 
be the present tense, but yet it is not the future, is it?" From a boy 



460 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

with a decided taste for grammar, which displays itself in the great eas 
with which he now learns the forms already familiar to him in reading, such 
a speech is no more a sign of precocity, than the discovery of a mathemat- 
ical proposition was in Pascal, that horn mathematician 

CCCIX. 

TO COUNT DE SERRE. 

Bonn, 4th February, 1824. 

England will, without a doubt, lower her old four per cent, funds 

during the present session ; the amount of this stock is not very large, but 
this step will prepare the way for a similar operation with the three per 
cents, next year, by which the national burdens will be very considerably 
lightened. But, in order to effect this, peace is necessary, and I venture 
to hope that, after the experiment in Spain, your government has renounced 
all idea of attempting to recover America. Posterity will pronounce a woe 
upon those through whom Spanish America was rent away, and could not 
again be brought into subjection. I, however, do not see in these countries 
seminaries and models of the democratic republic ; but I see that a portion 
of them will be converted into negro States, like St. Domingo : the rest 
will be dissolved, and become a prey to the greatest anarchy, unless a dic- 
tator arise. It is now too late to prevent this ; and it is England that 
will have the greatest reason to repent her conduct, since North America 
must immediately obtain the superiority, and she will infallibly lose her 
West Indian possessions. What a fatal confusion reigns there already ! 
If it is really true that the resolutions of Parliament respecting the treat- 
ment of the negroes, have raised a ferment among the latter, it would fol- 
low that you must tolerate the greatest atrocities on the part of those who 
are under your authority, if they are resolved to persevere in their commis- 
sion, and if their opposition to your reforms would produce still greater 
calamities. Is not this a much more difficult case of clashing duties than 
that of the casuists, where it is a question of saving life ? The regulations 
which the parliament has not even commanded, but simply recommended, 
do not at all affect political rights ; have not even a remote reference to 
emancipation, but solely to moral enormities, the abolition of which has 
been fruitlessly recommended by the government in private. In these isl- 
ands, the white population will be exterminated, if at any time the power 
of the mother country should be insufficient to suppress a general out- 
break ; in the Spanish colonies, the whites will be merged in the colored 
population ; in many countries, the Spanish language, which is even now 
very little spoken by the Creoles, will die out ; entirely new nations will 
arise, but they will be barbarous. 

My country will owe me no slight thanks if I have excited your interest 
in it, my beloved friend. Your remarks upon the projected provincial Cham- 
bers are full of weight : would to Heaven that you lived among us, and 
could make them practically influential. You remind me how it was re- 
cognized in France, before the Revolution, that it would be impossible to 
govern, if the whole kingdom had consisted of provinces each possessing 
Chambers. Has not this principle a still wider application, and is it not 
always impossible to govern without despotism, where no diversity of rights 
exists — rights appertaining to provinces or classes ? So, again, there is a 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 461 

period when this diversity can not be maintained, because it has ceased to 
exist m practice. It seems to me that we have committed a great error 
in making the provinces too large. Had the old provinces been left as 
they were and not thrown together, a sufficient number of people, of sound 
understanding and upright character, would have been found in them, 
who would have managed their domestic affairs unassumingly and well ; 
but in our Westphalia, people assemble from such distant parts that they 
are strangers to each other, and get upon general topics, because the one 
Knows nothing of the municipal affairs of the other, and takes no interest 
in them ; in fact, the very man who best feels where, as we say, the shoe 
pinches, is frequently outvoted by the rest, if, as is very often the case, the 
majority of the other counties are not concerned in the question under dis- 
cussion. But it is the least of my fears that the ministers will prevent 
the project from coming into effectual operation at all, by giving the 
Chambers nothing to deliberate on but trifles. It is worthy of note, how 
nearly all who have had to do with the scheme, while really any thing but 
liberal themselves, yet secretly believe that none but liberal ideas are sens- 
ible ; and, from fear of seeming unenlightened, take steps which even 
popular opinion would not call for, if they would do something better. In 
all parts of our territory, except the country on this side of the Rhine, we 
possess manorial estates, and with them the means of forming an order of 
nobles, and an excellent criterion for selecting the members of it, viz., the 
possession of such an estate, coupled either with an hereditary and unfor- 
feited nobility, or with the attainment of a certain grade in the military or 
civil service. Formerly, the possessor of a manor was only eligible to the 
Diet when of noble descent, and because this was preposterous (thus, for 
example, in one of the Saxon circles, there is only a single proprietor of 
noble descent remaining), they have now gone to the other extreme, and 
make the simple fact of possession the sole condition. At the same time, 
the nobility, who are deeply encumbered, are selling one estate after an- 
other, and the new proprietors are generally men of the lowest extraction. 
Well, the nobles are now remonstrating against this in provinces where 
they have on the whole maintained their ground, as in Minister, for in- 
stance ; and what do they demand ? The old law ; that none but noble- 
men by birth or creation, shall be eligible to the Chambers. Now every 
grand duke will grant patents of nobility on the payment of fees, and, in con- 
sequence, a commoner who prides himself upon the honor of his class, will 
not allow himself to be ennobled. Thus I should be excluded ; every con- 
tractor in Darmstadt or Carlsruhe, who is willing to spend a few thousand 
florins for it, would be admissible. Had I been able to make my voice 
heard, when I made the assertion, in attestation of which I adduced evi- 
dence from the President Henault. that this was formerly'the casein France, 
and supported it by obvious proofs, that thus alone a self-renewing order 
of nobles could exist, the public would have been delighted. As it is, 
they are more displeased that the aristocracy should exist as an order, than 
pleased that it should have been divested of all moral significance. One 
hopeless circumstance is the despotic influence exercised by revolutionary 
ideas among us Germans, wherever absolute power can avail itself of them 
for its own purposes. In Westphalia and in other parts, we have in the en- 
tailed freeholds an hereditary yeomanry, in whom, wherever they exist, we 
possess a highly respectable peasantry aristocracy, wealthy enough to give 



462 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

their younger sons a good education, with the consciousness of an honorable 
descent and a youth not depressed by poverty, and thus to add respectable 
members to the middle class, especially to the clergy of both confessions. But 
wherever the Code Napoleon has been introduced, its adherents, who have 
gained the public ear by assuming to be the representatives of public opinion, 
insist upon the divisibility of landed property. They had already surrepti- 
tiously obtained a confirmation of the French and Westphalian ordinances ; 
and though this is suspended, Heaven knows how the matter will be de- 
cided at last. Yet people have before their eyes the example of other 
German countries, where this cursed divisibility has existed for centuries, 
and the whole agricultural population are beggars. In the district of Mon- 
tabaur, now belonging to Nassau, no deputy can be chosen for the Diet, 
because it does not contain a single elector. The qualification for an elec- 
tor consists in paying one florin land-tax. This sounds incredible, but my 
informant lives close to the district, and has known that part of the coun- 
try from his infancy. 

Here on the Rhine, the larger estates are entirely disappearing, and the 
smaller ones are constantly divided and subdivided ; and what a class are 
the peasantry ! An estate which is considered one of the largest was sold 
lately for about 85,000 francs. Manufacturers, advocates, &c, buy plots 
of land and farm them out, so that in the neighborhood of the towns the 
peasant proprietors are vanishing, as in Italy. The agriculturists, except- 
ing the vine-growers, are suffering severely from the low prices ; yet their 
condition is incomparably better than in Suabia and in Holstein, where a 
manor, which I know, was sold lately for a quarter of what the deceased 
possessor expended on its purchase twenty-five years ago, and in real im- 
provements ; in a village belonging to it, every peasant is bankrupt. One 
great difficulty, is the really frightful increase of population, to which 
people are now beginning to turn their attention after having long child- 
ishly rejoiced in it. You will scarcely believe that with us in Prussia, 
where the population does not yet amount to eleven millions, it is increas- 
ing at the rate of more than 200,000 a year. In these parts, however, 
you see new houses springing up in great number ; I hear the Moselle 
districts are particularly flourishing in this respect, in consequence of the 
increased protective duties on foreign wines ; that new houses are building 
in all directions, and fresh land brought under cultivation, but in other 
parts of Germany this is not the case. Our manufacturers are maintain- 
ing their ground better than I expected ; in many articles in which twenty 
years ago the English manufactures quite predominated, they no longer 
compete with our own ; for instance, in broadcloth, other kinds of woolen 
goods, and leather : the demand for foreign iron-wares is constantly dimin- 
ishing. The misfortune is that the manufacturers over-produce, and then 
the necessity of selling makes them vulnerable to every accident. As the 
price of the raw material falls, the manufacturer is obliged to reduce the 
prices of the articles manufactured when it was higher. The number of 
paupers is increasing immensely. Cologne has recovered itself to an ex- 
traordinary extent since 1814; houses have more than doubled in value, 
the population has greatly increased, but one learns with horror that out 
of 55,000 inhabitants, there are 20,000 in the receipt of alms. What 
will be the position of Europe within a century ? 

I turn from statistics to a subject which indeed our statists do not over- 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 463 

look in their tables — namely, literature. Poetry is quite at an end. No- 
thing but novels — precisely what we can not write — are written now ; 
their favorite scene at present is Greece. Of philosophy people seem to 
have had enough at present, and during the lull, a few here and there are 
actively prosecuting really profound researches into the Greek philosophers, 
and coming to perceive that speculation has been exhausted in its results. 
The study of Roman jurisprudence is carried on with great vigor. Some 
excellent and many monstrous works have seen the light, in consequence 
of the shock which I have given to the criticism of ancient history. One 
book that I should rejoice to see in your hands is Menzel's History of the 
period from 1786 to 1815, of which the first part has just appeared. It 
is pervaded by the soundest views, the most thorough contempt for the 
miserable wisdom of the revolutionists, and such a correct tact in discover- 
ing truth, that one is astonished to see a professor in Breslau able to pass 
judgment upon facts as if he lived in the busy scene of action. Unfor- 
tunately the book has been written too hastily, as is usually the case with 
us, namely, while the printing is in progress, and hence it is wanting in 
finish. It is far superior to another work, the latter half of which relates 
to a portion of the same period, F. C. Schlosser's History of the Eighteenth 
Century. I am acquainted with the author of the latter- he is a most 
upright man, and his moral sense is pure ; hence he abhors and despises 
the Revolution in reality : but he fell in with Guizot at Paris, nay with 
Gregoire and it has led him into ugly inconsistencies here and there. 
For this reason a translation of his work is coming out in Paris. Out of a 
hundred of those who speak on such matters in Germany, you would hardly 
find one who would not regard Liberalism as the lesser of two evils, and 
hardly five who would not regard it as absolutely excellent. Manuel's 
portrait has hung beside that of Mina in all the print-shops, but he seems 
at last to be forgotten for a time. 

In tbe Frankfort reading-room, there are two copies of the "Constitu- 
tionneL/' and the people quarrel who shall get it first. Here the police 
prohibit that paper, and foolishly enough admit the "Courier," which it is 
scarcely possible to see the first day, while it is very seldom that any one 
takes up the "Journal des Debats." The "Allgemeine Zeitung" has 
drawn in its claws a little after very serious threats, still it often gives 
vent to its spite. An Ultra journal has been set on foot here, which is 
injured by the contemptible character of its editor (he was an agent of 
King Christophe, at Hayti, to hire artisans), and an affectation of bigoted 
Catholicism : but some very remarkable documents appear in its pages, 
and some very unpleasant truths for the opposite faction. All such 
writers, however, carp at your Richelieu ministry, f t, in the "Allge- 
meine Zeitung,' : who now swears by the present ministry, will probably in 
two months adore those whose opposition he has hitherto, on many occa- 
sions, gently blamed. 

For what place do you stand ? You will easily fancy that I am as 
much interested about that as about the general results of the election ; 
though my wish is, that you may remain in peace under your lofty blue 
sky. But is this my real wish ? I will not be too sure about it, for when 
we are considering where we shall live for the future, as it will most likely 
not be in Berlin, there is, in fact, only one reason that decides us to take 
up our abode here ; it is the desire to settle at no impassable distance from 



464 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

you — a thought that pierces my heart when Berlin is talked about, and 
makes it almost impossible for me to think of living there. If you retire 
into your province, we shall be quite near each other ; and even if you 
live in the capital, you will no doubt sometimes visit Lorraine. And as 
nothing binds me to Bonn, we might perhaps settle at Treves, if you lived 
at Metz. I shall never forget your saying in your last letter, that you and 
your wife felt the want of my presence in your afflictions.* I can not tell 
you how deeply I thank you for it. How we miss you ! 

cccx. 

Bonn, 29th March, 1824. 

I think I understand you that the 12th was your birthday. We 

celebrated it quite in private, and Marcus entreated, in his childish pray- 
ers, that you and yours may receive every blessing, and for us — that we 
may see you again. Tell me, dear friend, whether I was wrong in the 
day, though a factual error about the date would be of no more conse- 
quence, than a mistake as to the historical object of your worship 

I can not write to you any more to-day, as I have charge of the children, 
and the hour is come at which I am to give my eldest little girl a lesson 

I can not obtain a certainty with respect to my future position. You 
will agree, that I must have a very strong party feeling when I say that, 
in spite of these circumstances, I am rejoiced to hear of the reduction of 
the rate of interest in France, though it affects the greater part of my 
fortune, provided that the emigrants, &c, are to receive some compensa- 
tion 

CCCXI. 
TO MADAME NIEBUHR. 

Berlin, 18th May, 1824. 

I arrived here on Sunday, with which ends the first act of this drama. 
It was still broad daylight when I arrived, and I would much rather have 
got in at a later hour. I went the same evening to Savigny, where I 
found old acquaintances assembled at tea. You can imagine, my Gretchen. 
how the meeting with friends and acquaintance, and the sight of Berlin 
with all its painful recollections, agitated my heart 

As to the essential part of our concerns, I have received as yet, simply 
a recommendation to return to Rome, to which I replied, that the same 
reasons which necessitated the abandonment of my post there forbade my 
return •, that my grounds for this step were well known, and were not 
founded in self-interest or ambition. So much was clear, that Count 
Bernstorf would willingly consent to granting my leave of absence, but 
this would be a mere postponement of the decision, which would not be 
of any use. In the afternoon I saw the Crown Prince ; his reception of 
me was most cordial. I was with him three hours, and he invited me to 
spend some time with him regularly every afternoon. 

I have dined with the King to-day : his reception of me was gracious 

As you will easily imagine, I am every where assailed by persuasions 
to remain here 

The attempts to embellish the city do not please me, but I have not 
* De Serre had lost his mother and a child during this year. 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 465 

yet seen any of the country houses, which may, perhaps, show more taste. 
I do not at all like the theatre, nor the guardhouse with its Doric portico. 
The Potsdam gate has been pulled down, and is to be replaced in a lighter 
style, by no means such as befits a large city, the capital of a military 
State 

CCCXII. 

Berlin, 21st May, 1824. 

Would to God you were here, that I might have the comfort of 

talking over things and deliberating, if our fate is to be decided now. 
What with the dizzy whirl of gayety, and my complete solitude when at 
home — where such innumerable recollections crowd in upon me, that I 
seem like a spectre to myself — my mind is not less overclouded than this 
side of my outward life. 

The Crown Prince has improved beyond description. His heart remains 
what it ever was, and his mind is enriched by an extensive knowledge of 
facts. Prince William appears equally warm-hearted and good. In truth, 
the man wh.o is not satisfied with these Princes must make unwarrantable 
demands upon the world. Both received me as cordially as if I had been 
a friend of their own rank. The circle of my acquaintance is very large, 
indeed, much larger than I was aware of till now ; hence, my time is split 
up in a way that distracts and confuses me. But I am received with the 
greatest kindness and cordiality both by my old friends and by those of 
recent date. I find nearly all (not Roeder, who is very fortunate) grown 
old, and most of them stout. 

There is much less life and gayety among them than formerly ; on the 
other hand, show and luxury have increased. 

Now I think, my dear wife, that this last circumstance decides the 
question of our removal to Berlin ; unless, contrary to all probability, a 
moral obligation should compel it. But really I see no reason why we 
should settle here ; £or, although my heart beats when I think of the 
Crown Prince — though some friends and the places which awaken melan- 
choly recollections (for instance, the Thiergarten, where I long to go) are 
dear to me — though the Library would be a great advantage, and I might 
have much refreshing intercourse ; yet, I feel at every step that all which 
belongs to my former life has passed away, and that you and the children 
alone make up my world ; a world for which I had a precious setting in 
the lovely, the glorious sky that encircled us with its brightness and beau- 
ty : and then, too, De Serre's presence ! I miss these blessings now, but 
in weighing the considerations that present themselves with regard to the 
choice of our abode, I must look to it that my leisure and repose of mind 
are not destroyed 

The changes in the city are in some parts very great, but in general it 
is a mere dressing up. The shops have increased very much, and betray 
a fearful amount of luxury 

cccxm. 

Berlin, 30th May, 1824. 

You have misunderstood one sentence in my letter, dear wife. 

If I merely spoke of you and the children in expressing my hopes for the 
future, I did not mean that I expected none but positively gloomy days 



466 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

for myself, but that it is only with and through you all, that serenity and 
cheerfulness can be diffused over the evening of my life. My youthful 
life, which had up to that time been one connected whole, ended with 
my fortieth year, and the roots which had nourished it were cut away. 
A new life had to grow up. I am now limited to this new state of exist- 
ence for the remainder of my days with you and the children. 

Meanwhile, you may be quite satisfied, my dear wife, that all will go on 
much better if we can but have a settled future to look forward to, with 
an income sufficient for our wants. If, in addition to this, I can find full 
occupation, and God preserves us from severe misfortunes, and continues 
to me my mental powers, you may be sure that I shall recognize thank- 
fully what I possess. 

I need only look at many other families to be conscious what I have in 
my wife and children, and I assure you that I feel myself much less deter- 
iorated by the influences of time than most of my acquaintance. May 
God preserve me from living so completely under the influence of the world 
as many do here ; whatever may be the contrast between their life and 
mine in point of splendor. The elasticity of the intellect is destroyed but 
too easily by splendor and dissipation ; particularly when one mixes with 
people of very different stations. 

I should like to have sent you a copy of my application to Bernstorf, but 
I have not time. I have reminded him that the embassadorship was 
granted me unasked, and how the King had given me a promise, to which 
I limited my requests. 

How could I think of returning to Rome, dearest wife, when you say you 
are "trying to familiarize yourself with the thought of it," and beg me to 
" forget you in the matter !" What stronger expression of your dislike to 
Rome could I quote to Count Bernstorf? And what must I be, if in the 
knowledge of your feelings on the subject, I would decide in opposition to 
them? But do not suppose, my darling Gretchen, that I did not know 
them to their full extent before you wrote 

I always receive messages to you from many friends. At Madame Von 
Savigny's, I met his sister Bettina several times. A few days ago she 
threatened to pay me a visit in my room. I shall, of course, anticipate 
her. 

Give my love and kisses from me to the dear children, and tell me all 
you can about them. Every trifle that happens with you interests me. 
Little Charles's paleness makes me almost more uneasy than any thing. 

CCCXIV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Berlin, 31st May, 1824. 
Here the recollections of former times rise up like ghosts before me at 
every step ; in the Thiergarten, where there is not a path that does not re- 
mind me of the past, it is sometimes almost more than I can bear, and yet 
I can not help going there again and again. It is so distinctly before my 
eyes, how we used to walk there in 1810, Amelia, and you, and I; how 
in the autumn after, and in the following winter, and spring and summer, 
when I was full of life and energy, and my history was daily growing be- 
neath my hands, I found recreation and refreshment there in Amelia's 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 467 

society: so too, in 1812 and 1813, in the intense political excitement in 
which every other feeling was merged ; and then came afterward, those 
heart-rending drives with my dying wife. &c. 

My sorrow is seldom relieved by tears. 

When I pass the house where my highest happiness departed, a shudder 
runs through me. A very worthy man lives there, a M. Von Schonberg, 
who would be happy to see me, but I can not enter the house. 

Savigny, Nicolovius, Eichhorn, and other friends, are what they were to 
me. I saw Gbschen in Gottingen. He is a true pattern of self-sacrifice 
for his family. 

My Lucia is very ilL, my angel child ! If the worst were possible ! I 
at a distance, my poor Gretchen alone in her grief! 

cccxv. 

TO MADAME XIEBUHR. 

Berlin-, 1st June, 1824. 

Your letter reached me. darling wife, as I had written these 

words. I tore it open with a strange sudden feeling of anguish. You can 
tell how I am since. The violence of my anguish is proportioned to the 
strength of my previous security. My Lucia, my beloved child ! It is like 
another pang to me, and ve t a consolation that the child has seemed to 
cling to me so Tately. I can not realize the idea of losing her. And I do 
not despair yet j but I shall await the post with torturing anxiety. If you 
want me, I shall hasten to you. Every thing else must be put aside if I 
must come to you, comfort you, help you to bear up. 

ifay God grant us quiet ! How thankful I will be for all that I have 
often Aitherto not esteemed at its true value ! 

The present position of our affairs does indeed require my presence, but 
it is not absolutely necessary. Sympathy would induce Count Bemstorf to 
hasten the decision as much as he can. The Crown Prince too, and Presi- 
dent Von Schonberg would do all in their power to further it. 

Be quite easy on this subject, therefore, if you want me. With all this 
it will be a hard task for me to-day to accompany Count B. to Tegel. Ma- 
dame Von Humboldt was sympathizing just as she used to be at Rome, 
and sends her hearty love to you. Count B. was extremely friendly and 
communicative. 

God reward the dear children for comforting you 

CCCXVI. 
TO COUNT DE SERRE. 

Berlin, 6lk June, 1824. 
My Dear Friend — My long silence after the receipt of the last letter 
you wrote me in the past year, deprives me of all right to complain of fate 
if I obtain no letters from you — these precious blessings of my later years. 
Therefore I will not murmur, but I have long been sad at hearing nothing 
at all of you, and now I begin to be anxious. Three cases are possible ; 
my two letters, or one from you may have been lost j you may not have 
liked to write with a heavy heart; lastly, some circumstance may have 
robbed me of your friendship. Of these three cases, the first would be 



468 MEMOIR OF N1EBUHR. 

bearable ; the second, God forbid ; the third, I can not even picture to my- 
self. I know, that at a great distance misrepresentations and perversions 
of facts may sever the most perfect friendships ; but I know also that you 
have given me your friendship as fully as I have devoted mine to you. I 
know that all the arts of hell could as little induce me to believe any thing 
against you as against my wife. I know that if you could have seen all 
the thoughts that have passed through my mind since we have known 
each other — nay, since I first loved you, before we met — there might be 
many of them that would need all your indulgence toward human weak- 
ness ; but none relating to yourself that would be inconsistent with our 
friendship — none that could make me unworthy of this blessing. But dis- 
pel my fears, dear friend ; I havb no scruple in imploring you only just to 
tell me that you are unchanged toward me, and how you are. I trust, in 
God, that you have no bad news to give me. 

As it is possible that my letters, I. and II., may never have reached you, 
I will at any rate repeat here, that in the first, I asked you conditionally, 
to stand godfather to my expected child ; and in the second, that in anti- 
cipation of your consent, I had united out new-born infant to you in this 
bond. His birth freed us from great anxieties on his mother's account. 

But while I am thus writing to you, I am uncertain whether we 

still possess him, for since I left the Rhine, the baby and Lucia have both 
been attacked with inflammatory colds, which are epidemic there, in con- 
sequence of the horrible weather: Lucia has recovered — at least her mother 
thinks so — but when she last wrote, the infant lay so ill that she had 
scarcely any hope of him ; and was suffering so dreadfully, that his mother 
prayed to God for his release, unless he should completely recover. This 
sorrow she has had to bear separated from me, and without the consola- 
tion of sympathy and help from any female friend. My anxiety about her 
and the children, especially my favorite Lucia, 1 am forced to endure amidst 
the bustle of the metropolis, where I am endeavoring to obtain the decision 
of our fate, which I found it impossible to accomplish through letters. But 
I am looking forward now with a beating heart to a probably decisive let- 
ter, and shall try to divert my thoughts by writing to you. 

This journey to Berlin is a new and decisive step in our life, of which it 
is worth while to give an account to a friend. All my letters representing 
that I could not return to Rome on account of my wife, whether it was 
owing to her absolute incapability of enduring the climate, or to a home- 
sickness that made every thing insupportable to her ; that my mission had 
only been intended as a temporary one, and that I had an express promise 
under the King's hand, that after the completion of the treaty I should re- 
turn to resume my former position ; all these letters remained without any 
answer at all, and it was only indirectly that Count Bernstorf gave me to 
understand that I had better come here to submit my application myself. 
The Crown Prince also insisted on my coming to Berlin from different mo- 
tives. It was almost unendurable to come here as a solicitant in order to 
hear anew the exhortations already repeated to weariness, to do what I 
should so gladly do if I could — return to Rome ; and to be obliged still to 
repeat the same answer, and to be reduced to beg for, as an uncertain and 
special favor, a right assured to me by the royal word, and the fulfillment 
of which places me in a less favorable position than any of those who for- 
merly stood on a level with me. But the period of my furlough had ex- 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 469 

pired, and what else could I do, as I could get no written answer ? As to 
the result of my visit, I can not well say any thing till the King's decision 
is before me. 

The investigations connected with the disturbances of the past years are 
still proceeding, and the dispositions of several young men, above all those 
of Witt Dbring.* who is now in captivity at Bayreuth, seem to prove, that 
about the time of Sand's assassination, there was really a sort of con- 
spiracy on foot among the students and those immediately connected with 
them, led by the so-called captains, the spirit and aims of which were sedi- 
tious and mischievous, though in many cases varnished over with a show 
of piety, &c. ; but their incapacity for any thing except to commit single 
acts of assassination, was evidently as great as the criminality of their 
delusion. No one can discover the slightest indication that this con- 
spiracy ever extended into the army, or into the other classes of society ; 
it seems to have been confined to wicked and foolish students' vagaries. 

What sort of a figure shall we make in history, when the government 
of a great kingdom, supported by an army of whose fidelity there is not 
even a suspicion, fears such an enemy, while in France, the government 
are taking advantage of victory to demonstrate their security by pardoning 
open rebels ! 

Throughout Germany the political fever seems almost to have ceased, 
though it certainly must have run very high some years ago. Each has 
given up his particular castle in the air, and if all Greece were to experi- 
ence the fate of Chios, it would only produce a transient effervescence. I 
can not properly make out with what people now seek to replace the want 
of some powerful excitement ; they have not returned to the old quiet fam- 
ily life. The churches are well attended ; and, as far as you can judge 
from outward appearances, there seems to be much piety ; external irre- 
ligion has really disappeared, and since the exaggerations of a few secta- 
ries are not countenanced by the government, they do not call forth any 
re-action. Unhappily, irritation frequently arises between Catholics and 
Protestants, for which some priests among the former, and officials among 
the latter, are equally in fault. In legislation the most shallow liberal 
principles prevail among the different ministries, and even among the most 
able of the men high in office. Do not think it a contradiction that I 
speak of the shallowness of the principles of those to whom I allow the 
possession of more than common ability in administration. Since I have 
been here, I have met once more a friend of high political standing, who 
unites to unspotted integrity and extraordinary talent in the conduct of 
all kinds of business, an obstinate persistence in revolutionary principles, 
though he is a decided monarchist ; an inflexibility in his opinions, and 
contempt for all that contradicts them, which drive an old acquaintance, 
of a directly opposite way of thinking, to despair. Formerly we often 
agreed negatively. A great void is felt by all, which leads to amusements 

* This Witt Doring was a hot-headed and unstable character, who had, when 
a member of the Burschenschaft committed acts of violence in spite of the re- 
monstrances of his fellow members. When he was afterward imprisoned, find- 
ing that the stream set against his party, or perhaps in a fit of repentance at his 
really unjustifiable conduct, he turned round, and by his exaggerated confessions 
led the government to arrest many of his associates, who were thus brought into 
undeserved misfortune. He afterward accepted office under the Austrian gov- 



470 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

without pleasure. Luxury, such as was unknown even before 1806, per- 
vades all classes, and the booksellers state, that owing to this, though 
every thing except houses has become so much cheaper, and the public 
salaries have been raised, yet that scholars, and people of the classes who 
receive a liberal education, do not buy more books than during the time 
when the country was under the yoke of Napoleon ; a time to which good 
men look back with regret, because then community of feelings, an intense 
interest in the general welfare, and noble determination reigned in every 
breast. The landed proprietors are universally complaining, yet if they 
were not so deeply m debt, their position would be far from desperate in 
the manufacturing provinces, and in those where they have skill enough to 
avail themselves of other productions besides corn. Manufacturers are 
making more progress than is confessed, and both our own and the French 
manufactured goods are competing with the English as they never did be- 
fore. The average physical well-being is undoubtedly raised ; and even 
where the proprietors are not prospering, the workmen and day-laborers 
are only so much the better off. The prices of all manufactured articles 
have fallen so amazingly, that stuffs which were consumed exclusively 
among the richer classes only eight years ago, are now within reach of 
quite the lower orders. But one species of luxury opens the way to every 
other, and such as you see here is intolerably unsuitable in a State like 
ours. Stock-jobbing has found its way here, too ; and if we go on in our 
present course, among us, too, even the women will soon begin to take an 
interest in the exchanges. It seems as if this sort of gambling helped to 
relieve the want of some violent mental excitement, which politics do not 
afford. Contentment exists nowhere* This is not only true of Berlin, but 
also of the smallest and most flourishing provinces. It surprised me to 
hear from an excellent man in Brunswick, that the people acknowledge this 
to themselves ; while he recognized expressly how impossible it is for us to 
esteem ourselves happy as a nation, because of our mental and moral defi- 
ciencies. At most, he said it was but a North American prosperity ; in 
fact, the people did not wish for more. 

I am concluding this letter on the eleventh. Meanwhile, I have re- 
ceived news of the death of my youngest child ; the mother has borne his 
sufferings and his loss with a heroic and heavenly spirit. May God spare 
us any fresh calamity and support the poor mother till I return, and help 
her to endure. It has not been the child's fate to have the happiness of 
growing up in a peculiar relationship to you, my dear friend. God protect 
you from the repetition of a similar misfortune. I long to hear from you, 
embrace you in thought, and send my hearty greetings to your noble-minded 
wife and the dear children, who will by this time be scarcely able to recol- 
lect us. Write to me at Bonn. 

With my whole heart your friend. 

CCCXVII. 

TO MADAME NIEBUHR. 

Berlin, 9th June, 1824. 
Presentiments are nothing! I had drawn hopes from the conclusion of 
your last letter that almost amounted to confidence. Hence, I broke open 
your letter with less anxiety. I thank God, my beloved wife, that he has 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 471 

given and preserved to you the strength of heart which has enabled you to 
endure this terrible time with such fortitude. 

Even the day before yesterday my first impulse was to hasten to you; 
how much more so now that I know you are sitting by the corpse of our 
beloved little one, with a heart heavy with tears! But as our fate will 
now most likely be decided in the course of a few days, it would be thought 
a. piece of madness on my part, if I left without having taken leave of the 
King and thanked him, in order to gain a day or two. So I can not yet fix 
the time of my departure. 

Let us consult together upon our future plan of life with perfect openness 
and tender confidence. I have learnt to appreciate you, and your whole 
worth thoroughly, my Gretchen, and this misfortune has brought us nearer 
to each other, and perfected my love for you more than any happiness 
could have done. And therefore we will take this affliction as another 
blessing from God's hand. 

All that you tell me of the grief of our two elder children is a consola- 
tion to me. I press each and all of them to my faithful heart. 

Give my best remembrances to Brandis. I am buying little presents for 
the children, but with what a weight at my heart ! I feel as though I had 
lost all security that they were still mine ! 

CCCXVIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 2d September, 1824. 

I thank you for your sympathy with me about De Serre's death. 

It is an immense loss for me, no man was so dear to me ; no human being 
esteemed me so highly. He had no secrets from me, and I was more to 
him than all the world besides, beyond his own family. Under the suc- 
cession of heavy blows that fell upon him and his wife during the past 
year, their sigh was, if only Niebuhr was here ! He has departed to God, 
and his warm affection for me he has carried with him, and his family 
look upon me as a kinsman, the more so, as most of their relations have 
been unfaithful to them. Our age has not seen a more brilliant or power- 
ful genius. I purpose to write his life if the family can supply me with 
data for some periods of it. I possess many from his own accounts to my- 
self. His life would be the history of Prance since 1814 : I have courage 
enough to write it, though it will not even be the liberals who will make 
the greatest outcry against my work. What bound De Serre and myself 
so indissolubly together was, that our views harmonized so completely from 
the very centre of our being, that each could read into the soul of the other, 
and no clashing of opinion could ever arise between us. He had the purest 
soul, and the most loving heart on earth. Why have you never known 
him ? Farewell. 

CCCXIX. 

Berlin, I4lh December, 1824. 
That my taking a part in the deliberations of the Council of State can 
be productive of any good, is a delusion springing from my dear Prince's 
affection for me. Moreover, I come to the subjects now tinder discussion 
without local knowledge, and they relate to a measure so completely 
spoiled long ago by earlier laws, that there would be little hope of effect- 



472 MEMOIR OF frlEBUHR. 

ing any improvement, even if I were better prepared. Many, in other re- 
spects, intelligent people do not know the consequences of their own votes, 
and in a mixed assembly you can not call their attention to them, or else 
you lose other votes. Thus some voted yesterday against the claims of 
the poor cotters to right of common, from a misunderstanding, over which 
I could have wept ; and some aristocrats had the humanity to vote in their 
favor. Thus, too, I am certain not to succeed in carrying motions for the 
rescue and maintenance of the peasant order, though important voices 
among the aristocracy will be on my side. 

The Bank project does not come under discussion in the Council of State, 
but is referred to special conferences. It has not yet been communicated 
to me, I expect it to-day or to-morrow. It is a great satisfaction to know 
that one is separated from one's family for real reasons, not imaginary 
ones, for about the Bank I certainly have a voice, and very few people here 
have one. 

I see no prospect of returning home in less than two or three months 
from this time ; I shall not know when I may seriously begin to think about 
it, till the Bank business is ended, which can not be dragged on to an in- 
terminable length like other things, as the bankers demand a decision. 

I have met with little of a cheering kind here, excepting the disposition 
of the Crown Prince. I shun society and decline all evening assemblies, 
except formal presentations, which can not be avoided. My old connections 
are broken up on all sides, and I do not know how we should make a place 
for ourselves here, even if we had a superfluity of wealth. 

There are some good souls, especially among the nobility and at court, 
who see me again with a sort of superstitious hope ; but I tell them my- 
self, that though their hopes touch my heart, they are illusory, and will 
not be justified. Such expressions give me no pleasure, just because they 
rest upon a delusion. 

How Gretchen will get through this winter God knows ! Her compan- 
ion does not come till the middle of March 

cccxx. 

TO MADAME NIEBUHR. 

Berlin Christmas evening, 1824. 

I was at Buttmann's on Sunday evening. Dr. Waagen, who has 

written upon Van Eyck was there. Of all the people who have written 
upon the history of art, he appears to me to have incomparably the most 
clear and acute mind, and he really comes to practical results that solve 
questions which I had hitherto laid before all other historians of art in 
vain. Rauch, too, is in a delightful state of activity 

CCCXXI. 

Berlin, 5th January, 1825. 

I had just begun, the night before last, to re-arrange what I had 

written at first about the Bank scheme, in order to bring it into a definite 

shape, when a note came from Count L , to request that I would now 

proceed to draw up my remarks. I now set about the work with redoubled 
zeal. I had concluded my scrutiny, I had tested all the separate points, 
and was clear about them ; all I had to do (the arrangement I had also 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 473 

settled in thought) was to write. I finished writing it last night, and as 
I had got the address of a copyist I was saved this lahor. But I had after- 
ward a long job to do for the next sitting of the Council of State. Savigny 
is appointed to make a report upon the same subject. I wish his health 
may not give way. It is not good just now, and he is quite overladen 
with work. He has frequent returns of violent pain in the head. He is 
going on with his History, delivering his lectures, and added to these, 
there is the work for the Council of State, and the Court of Revision. It 
is too much for one man's shoulders ; and then there is his infirm health. 
Thinking about the Bank scheme really puts me into a sort of feverish 
state. I believe it to be fraught with ruin, and yet see that there is dan- 
ger of its passing; there are so many and such important persons interested 
in it. The speculators must have some sort of security of its success, for 
even now, promissory notes for shares in the Bank are selling on the Ex- 
change, which certainly is mere gambling; still it shows how eager people 
are in this game. The consequences would show afterward that I had 
been in the right, but then it would be too late. I write to you about this 
business, my Gretchen, because my head is full of it ; and you must, at 
least, share my interests, and know what I am busied with, although you 
can not enter into the subject. Besides, its importance will help to recon- 
cile you to the absence of your husband. « 

CCCXXII. 

Berlin, 10th January, 1825. 

I have sent in my report, and have received since, a written an- 
swer, with many fair words about the "importance of my observations,' 
"the value of such a report," &c. I do not know if I am right, but 1 
fancy that all this conceals a rejection of my services in this matter. 
Well, I must be contented with having done my part. The result does 
not depend upon me. Still, it will be difficult to submit to it when I have 
such decided opinions, and know that I understand the matter. All who 
were interested in the projects of the share-brokers, and all who reckon on 
places and salaries connected with the Bank will become my enemies; this 
I can not help, any more than that others will blame me who have no such 
aims, but have allowed themselves to be deluded. 

I have got a letter from M. Von Stein. He calls it criminal if I spare 
myself on your account and the children's ; he dreamrf that I could confer 
important benefits on the State, from which I withdraw myself in an un- 
conscientious way, from selfish motives, &c. I will send a mild answer 
to the noble old man, but not before all is decided ; then I will show him 
that I am capable of acting fearlessly ; but he shall not delude me with 
his pictures of the imagination. For the rest, the letter expresses much 
affection, and a high esteem for me. Happy are they who live in obscurity 
and quiet ! 

Yesterday there was a dinner at Count Lottum's, a ball and supper in 
the evening at the Brockhausens' ; I went away before supper. I am 
going to dine with Humboldt to-day, to have a conversation with him 
about Champollion's work on the hieroglyphics. You very seldom get 
conversations of this kind here. These discoveries are the most brilliant 
of our age, and one can not rejoice in them too much ; they, too, confirm 
Herodotus 



474 MEMOIR OV NIEBUHE. 

CCCXXIII. 

Berlin, 1st FeUruary, 1825. 

As Amsterdam is nearer to Bonn than to Berlin, you will have had the 
pleasure of learning the safe arrival of the ship from Leghorn, laden with 
our goods, earlier than I, dearest wife. I have really rejoiced greatly to 
hear of it, for I looked upon the ship as lost, and I am not ashamed to 
confess, that next to your present of the She-wolf and Zurlo's vase, our 
dear Marcus's pebbles are my greatest subject of joy. It has often gone 
to my heart to think that the darling child should lose these treasures. I 
only hope that the injury to the pictures will prove inconsiderable. 

After this joyful news, and a walk along old accustomed ways and 
paths, I should write to you in excellent spirits, if the aspect of affairs 

were but better They are hastening to the goal, and seem to have 

assured themselves of a majority. As soon as I can know positively that 
it is so, I think of writing to the King and conjuring him for the last time 
to listen to my warning, and to grant me leave to explain my views to him 
by word of mouth. How the King will take this, it is impossible to fore- 
see. Certainly not ungraciously, unless others prejudice him against me ; 
else, it must be confessed, all hope of court favor is over. If he did, such 
a reward for long-triad fidelity and integrity would grieve me, but it would 
not injure me, and as soon as I can sing with Paul Gerhard — 

•'Nun geht frisch drauf, es geht nacb Haus ; 
Ihr Rosslein regt die Beine ;" 

the time will have come when the innocent gayety of our children, and 
the approach of the spring, will enable us to drive these gloomy subjects 
from our minds. 

Now to other things. — Dear Savigny is very unwell again I 

will write to M. Von Stein. Let us look upon the dear noble old man as 
a father, and receive what he says in that light ; he means it all kindly, 
and if he comes, show him every kindness you can, dear Gretchen. His 
petulance is really almost his only fault : and you are obliged to bear mine, 
which certainly is of another kind } but I do not know whether it is any 
better on that account 

CCCXXIV. 

Berlin, 29tk January, 1825. 

It is an old maxim, to let the log lie when you can not lift it. 

But when you find yourself unable to avert a coming evil, when you see 
the object frustrated on which you have expended your best powers from 
the purest motives, you draw back at last, and cease to interfere, but leave 
things to take their own course, and, for your own part, only try to think 
no more about them : and this is a most unhappy result ; for that love for 
the general welfare which makes us forget ourselves, has a purifying and 
ennobling influence. I have said to many persons, "If you would speak 
out, and make known what you say is your conviction, without considering 
whether it would give offense or not, such a weight of opinion would be 
formed, that the project would inevitably founder." But then, they ex- 
cuse themselves by saying it would be presumption, &c. Things look 
rather better than when I last wrote. They are talking of proposing an- 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 475 

other scheme ; which would perhaps he less pernicious, and just on that 
account can not succeed in passing ; it would not allow sufficient profits 
to share-broking 

cccxxv. 

Berlin, 8^ February, 1825. 

When I have finished my business here, I shall enter a new 

epoch of my life with a firm step ; and with our dear children, above all 
with my better self Marcus, and in home pleasures, particularly those which 
our garden will give us, for which a strong taste and desire have awakened 
in me, I trust we shall lead not merely a life of serene resignation, but of 
bright happiness. We will make little excursions too. The impression 
of the scenery and ruins of Heidelberg, stands quite apart from all that I 
have seen in Germany, except the Tyrol ; we will go there again hefore 
long. 

While one translation of my History is already begun, a second trans- 
lator has applied to me. At the same time, the Duke of Broglie is writing 
a treatise on its contents. On the other hand, a pamphlet has appeared 
at Warsaw, in which I am called a Radical of the Cato-street school 
(where Thistlewood and his accomplices, who wanted to murdcf the min- 
isters, used to assemble), and it is said that Sand's mind was formed by 
my lectures ! What nonsense ! This comes from a certain Zinserling, 
who printed a eulogy of Jerome Bonaparte, in 1814. The late Christian 
Stolberg threatened to horsewhip him for it, and he bolted. He had had 
an appointment in the Westphalian police. 

CCCXXVI. 

Berlin, 16th February, 1825. 

The pay for the attendance in the Council is so large that I do not 

use it all. It seemed to me dishonorable to take more than I wanted ; but 
I am told that it would be considered unbecoming to decline it. So I will 
apply the surplus to assist those who have suffered in Dithmarsh by the 
floods. You would, no doubt, approve of my doing so, if I could consult 
you. I will send the money to Dora, that she may see that is divided so 
as to be a real benefit, not among too many. 

If our things have not been shipwrecked in the Texel, I shall buy some 
more plate ; else the money must go to replace what we have lost. 

Give my kind remembrances to Brandis. I often talk of him with poor 
Cousins : to whom people are extremely polite now 

CCCXXVII. 

Berlin, 2\st February, 1825. 

Yesterday, on my little Cornelia's birthday, my thoughts were 

more than usually with you. The weather was beautiful, and I hope you 
took a drive to Godesberg. I went with Perthes to dine at the B/eimers'. 
Not until to-day did I think of the arrival of the Cossacks on this day in 
1813. Thus do we forget ! You are no doubt right in thinking that it is 
wiser not to give the children so many presents as I send them in my im- 
patience 23d. — There was much that cheered me in your letter. 

First, that your companion is really an assistance to you ; next, that you 
have found tune to take up Italian again with my sweet little Amelia. 



476 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

This reminds me that I must in future devote a few hours every week to 
reading the Italian Grammar with Marcus. Then, too, I am glad that we 
seem likely to he able to hire the garden in the first place. Do not you 
think, too, that as soon as we can be quite certain of remaining in Bonn, 
which can scarcely indeed be any longer considered as doubtful, we might 
as well buy the garden of Dr. V. at his price ? I do not properly under- 
stand myself what it is that gives me such a downright passionate longing 
to possess this garden ; it is as if I had a certainty that we shall spend 
many happy days there with the children. Give me commissions to buy 
seeds for you. With the sad state of corn cultivation, it may even become 
a public service to introduce the culture of vegetables that have been hitherto 
neglected. One can distribute seeds; in this way a demand for them 
gradually arises, and from the demand cultivation. From next autumn, 
we can begin to raise fruit trees. What pleasure I have often received, 
when a child, from the blossoming and fruit-bearing trees in my father's 
garden ! 

May it not be our duty to follow a noble example, though at considerable 
cost to ourselves ? You have, no doubt, heard that several persons in Paris, 
of right feeling, but of quite opposite opinions on other points, have joined 
together to assist Greece, and among other things are trying to raise ten 
or twelve millions of francs as a loan. If the Greek government can pro- 
cure a tolerable sum of money now, we may hope that it will be able to put 
down the rebels, and break their power entirely ; and perhaps even win over 
the Turkish pashas. 

The Crown Prince has given me some volumes of Piranesi, of which he 
has a double set 

1 am just about to take the step at which I hinted lately in a few words 
to you. I hope that upon mature consideration you will approve of it. 
This step is, to send in a letter to the ministry of Public Instruction, re- 
questing that if I should wish to deliver lectures at Bonn, I may be permit- 
ted to do so without the formality, which in my case would be unsuitable, 
of an examination by the other professors of my faculty. I do not thereby 
take upon myself any obligation, but I mean to act as if I did. This kind 
of work satisfies my sense of honor, and my need of a sphere of active use- 
fulness ; it will keep my mind fresher, to be thus daily stimulated to intel- 
lectual communication; and further, it will also give me a reasonable 
ground for declining frequent journeys hither, as I can not then frequently 
interrupt my lectures. And will not the lectures be their own reward ? 
In many respects, too, it would remind me of the happy time that I passed 
after resolving to deliver lectures in 1810. Then, as now, after protracted 
wanderings, I regained my books and tranquillity. I think I should choose 
the History of Greece, in the first instance, and only lecture this time till 
about July, and then make a tour with you. A new existence has now 
been created for us ; and I feel it to be of inexpressible importance to keep 
fast hold of it, not to begin afresh again and again. 

CCCXXVIII. 

Berlin, 2d March. 1825. 

The wind was very high last night. At every gust I think of 

the poor dwellers in the marshes. Vinche* is such a thoroughly excellent 
* He was at this time President of Westphalia. 



VISIT TO BERLIN. 477 

man ! He has written to the King, asking permission to make a collection 
for the East Frieslanders, and requesting a donation from his Majesty him- 
self in aid of his former subjects. The King has given 3000 dollars, and a 
permission for the subscription. I have contributed twenty-five dollars to 
begin with, and think we can give a second subscription of the same 
amount. These lowlanders are like kinsmen to me, and it grieves me 
deeply that East Friesland should be separated from our monarchy. I 
think very highly of this race. Vinche goes on all occasions so straight to 
the point, without questioning and fear of consequences ; he is so mild of 
heart, and yet so open and straightforward, and so thoroughly loyal. He 
has become still dearer to me than he ever was before 

I have just been reading in Cicero a maxim of some worldly-minded 
Greek philosophers, which he finds detestable ; that in friendship we should 
never forget that we may cease to bo friends. With the noblest class of 
human beings this is certainly detestable, and wherever there is a warm, 
mutual attachment. But in other cases it has really a good meaning. 
You ought to be cautious in your acquaintanceship how you overstep the 
bounds of friendly good-will, unless you are absolutely certain that your 
connection can not be interrupted and broken off on one side or the other. 
This occurred to me in reading what you tell me. 

Did you notice again in Marcus's letter a hint of his desire to learn Greek ? 

CCCXXIX. 

Berlin, 18th March, 1825. 

It gives a peculiar satisfaction to read what is frequently asserted at the 
present day, that the rate of mortality is much diminished as compared to 
former times. Formerly I refused to believe in it, because it is certainly 
hard to understand. Now that I have children I am too much interested 
in the question not to believe it. 

1 sent off my letter to the King yesterday. As I wrote the date at the 
end, my father's birthday, I felt quite clear that he would have disapproved 
of this step had he been living. Entirely without ambition for himself he 
would have wished, me to yield in all points not involving a positive violation 
of my conscience, rather than give up the possibility of attaining a brilliant 
position. The remembrance of this has not, however, in the least confused 
my perceptions, the propriety of my step admits of no doubt. I have re- 
quested the King's permission to leave in either of two cases, first, that if 
the commission communicate the bill to me I may leave as soon as I have 
made my report to the King ; secondly, that if I hear that they have sent 
in their report at once to the King, as soon as my connection with the 
commission is dissolved. I think that the King will grant this without 
difficulty. But I have further said that I regard it as my duty to lay before 
His Majesty a final expression of my opinions on the project, and predictions 
of its consequences. 

I dined to-day with the Crown Prince as usual after the Council of State, 
and was some time alone with him afterward 

The English newspaper is a sort of luxury,* but it is not a mere luxury; 
and it is always a pity to break off any study in which you have acquired 
a certain degree of proficiency. Thus, I am very sorry not to have carried 

* Niebuhr had commissioned his wife to order an English newspaper, saying, 
" If I quite leaveoff reading English papers, I shall lose my knowledge of England ." 



478 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

on Persian and Arabic Tell Brandis that Cousins is on very in- 
timate terms with Hegel, which is indeed owing to Hegel's interposition in 
his favor during his captivity. Still it is somewhat extraordinary. Ask 
Brandis if he ever, when in Paris, heard such strange expressions as the 
following fall from him, that the gradual formation of Christianity had 
commenced from the earliest ages, but that Judaism was not its historical 
source. That Christ himself knew very little of Christianity ; the system 
was completed in the seventh and following centuries : that the Reformers 
were quite in error in desiring to go back to the first centuries, in which 
religion had not yet attained its maturity : that Hegel perceived this, but 
that the rest of us did not, &c. In this way these gentlemen may come to 
a compromise with Catholicism. Such cloudly utterances from a French- 
man disgust me. Among us Germans they are not quite unheard-of. 

cccxxx. 

Berlin, 22d March, 1825. 

I too like to think of Bonn as our future place of abode, and am 

persuaded that we could not have a better lot. I mean to try to enter 
into the local interests of the place. By so doing you identify yourself 
more closely with the inhabitants. Besides, it is a necessity of my nature 
to concern myself with the weal and woe of those who belong to the same 
community as myself. 

I rejoice in the idea that our garden will furnish us with an occupation 
that is neither literary, political, nor administrative ; that sort of interest 
which has been so completely out of my reach ever since my childhood, 
and had become so foreign to me, that I did not believe I should ever be 
so happy as to experience it again. It is a great blessing that my health 
continues so remarkably good; although it is the case with me as with 
sickly children who attain to a permanent state of health ; I feel myself 
much less intellectual than at the period when every impression made it- 
self felt through my whole nature physical as well as moral. 

Marcus's affectionate disposition shows itself in his expressions about 
Goschen and Lieber in his letters. I can not imagine how he should have 
recollected Lieber's birthday. 

It had been said that Lieber was to be released on his father's birth- 
day,* but nothing has come of it. Such carelessness in leaving a good 
man to languish in fetters makes me indignant, though no cruelty is in- 
tended 

CCCXXXI. 

Berlin, 2i April. 

I wrote to poor Lieber, and he has sent me an answer that has 

touched me deeply. The poor fellow is quite broken-hearted, I wish I 
could find time to make an excursion to Kopenick and comfort him. Per- 
haps I shall be able on Monday. t 

I am glad to hear that the people will receive my lectures kindly, only 
they must not carry their kindness too far. It is my earnest wish that 
more of the professors, &c. should attend the course 

* He had been arrested on suspicion of belonging to a secret association, 
t In the following letter, dated 6th, Niebuhr says, " I visited poor Iiieber yes- 
terday, in the Bastile of Kopenick, oh my God !" 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 479 

CCCXXXII. 

Berlin, Uth April 1824. 

This morning I have at last finished my final application to the King. 
To write thus for the fourth time about the same thing, and each time to 
have to answer the same objections over again is very wearying 5 you can 
not invent new arguments when you have once exhausted the subject in 
your representations. You can only try to put it in new points of view 
from which it may appear somewhat clearer, more self-evident 

I have yet to write to Schuckenan for poor Lieber. In the evening I 
shall take leave of the dear Crown Prince. 



1825-1831. 



We now enter on the last, and for posterity, the most import- 
ant section of Niebuhr's life, if we except, perhaps, the three years 
of his professorship in Berlin. From his letters it has been seen 
already that he had determined to deliver lectures at the Univer- 
sity, though holding no official appointment there. His freedom 
from other occupations and cares, enabled him at last seriously to 
undertake the accomplishment of his promise to his Amelia, and 
continue his Roman History. He returned to the vocation, which 
had in his youth floated before him as the true ideal of his life, 
namely, the position of a public instructor ; and found ample op- 
portunity to redeem the vow he had made in his early years, to 
extend guidance and assistance to any young men who might 
hereafter encounter the same intellectual difficulties through which 
he had had to wend his own way. 

Niebuhr commenced his lectures with a course on the History 
of Greece after the battle of Chaeronea, and had a numerous audi- 
ence. This course was followed by others on Roman Antiqui- 
ties, in the winter of 1825, repeated in 1827 ; Ancient History, 
in the summer of 1826 ; Ancient Ethnography and Geography, 
in the winter of 1827 ; the History of Rome to the Fall of the 
Empire, in the winter of 1828 ; the History of the last Forty 
Years, and of Rome under the Emperors, in the summer of 1829 ; 
and a second course of Roman History, in the summer of 1830. 

We have seen that, at Berlin, Niebuhr delivered his lectures 
verbatim from written notes. At Bonn, on the contrary, his only 
preparation consisted in meditating for a short time on the subject 
of his lecture, and referring to authorities for their data when he 



480 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

found it necessary, and he brought no written notes with him to 
the lecture-room. His success in imparting his ideas varied great- 
ly at different times, as it depended almost entirely on his mental 
and physical condition at the moment. He always felt a certain 
difficulty in expressing himself. He grasped his subject as a 
whole, and it was not easy to him to retrace the steps by which 
he had arrived at his results. Hence his style was harsh and 
often disjointed ; and yet he possessed a species of eloquence whose 
value is of a high order — that of making the expression the exact 
reflection of the thought — that of embodying each separate idea 
in an adequate but not redundant form. The discourse was no 
dry impersonal statement of facts and arguments, or even opin- 
ions ; the whole man, with his conceptions, feelings, moral senti- 
ments, nay passions too, was mirrored forth in it. Hence Niebuhr 
not merely informed and stimulated the minds of his hearers, but 
attracted their affections. That he did this in an eminent degree, 
was not indeed owing to his lectures alone, but also to his kind 
and generous conduct. All who deserved it were sure of his sym- 
pathy and assistance, whether oppressed by intellectual difficul- 
ties, or pecuniary cares. During the first year he delivered his 
lectures gratis ; afterward, on its being represented to him that 
this would be injurious to other professors, who could not afford 
to do the same, he consented to take fees, but employed them in 
assisting poor scholars and founding prizes. He often, however, 
still remitted the fee privately, when he perceived lhat a young 
man could not well afford it, and never took any from friends. 

But those who were admitted to his domestic circle were the 
class most deeply indebted to him. His interest in all subjects 
of scientific or moral importance was always lively ; and it was 
impossible to be in his company without deriving some accession 
of knowledge and incentive to good. From his associates he only 
required a warm and pure heart, and a sincere love of knowledge, 
with a freedom from affectation or arrogance. Where he found 
these, he willingly adapted himself to the wants and capacities 
of his companions ; would receive objections mildly, and take 
pains to answer them even when urged by mere youths, and 
weigh carefully every new idea presented to him. He was fond 
of society, and while his great irritability not seldom gave rise to 
misunderstandings and contemporary estrangement in the circle 
of his acquaintance, there were some friends with whom he al- 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 481 

ways remained on terms of unbroken intimacy ; among whom 
may be named Professors Brandis, Arndt, Nitzsch, Bleek, Nake, 
"Welter, and Hollweg. He enjoyed wit in others, and in Ins 
lighter moods racy and pointed sayings escaped him not unfre- 
quently. 

His intercourse was not confined to the literary circles. In all 
the civil affairs of the town and neighborhood, he took an active 
interest from principle as well as inclination, for he considered a 
man as no good citizen who refused to take his share of the public 
business of the neighborhood in which he lived. The loss winch 
left so great a blank in the world of letters, was also deeply re- 
gretted by his fellow-townsmen of Bonn. 

Niebuhr's mode of life at Bonn was very regular, and his hab- 
its simple. He hated show and unnecessary luxury in domestic 
life. He loved art in her proper place, but could not bear to see 
her degraded 'into the mere minister of outward ease. His life in 
his own family showed the erroneousness of the assertion that a 
thorough devotion to learning is inconsistent with the claims of 
family affection. He liked to hear of all the little household 
occurrences, and his sympathy was as ready for the little sorrows 
of his children as for the misfortunes of a nation. He was hi the 
habit of rising at seven in the morning, and retiring at eleven. 
At the simple one o'clock dinner he generally conversed cheerfully 
upon the contents of the newspapers which he had just looked 
through. The conversation was usually continued during the 
walk which he took immediately afterward. The building of a 
house, or the planting of a garden had always an attraction for 
him, and he used to watch the measuring of a wall, or the break- 
ing open of an entrance with the same species of interest with 
which he observed the development of a political organization. 
They drank tea at eight o'clock, when any of his acquaintance 
was always welcome. But during the hours spent in his library 
his whole being was absorbed in his studies, and hence he got 
through an immense amount of work in an incredibly short time. 

The principal epochs of his life, from 1823 to the beginning of 
1830, were marked by the works in which he was engaged. In 
October, 1825, he began to work again regularly at the History 
of Home. It was his intention to finish the outline of the third 
volume up to the end of the first Punic war, and to conclude it 
with three treatises on the primitive metrical art of the Romans, 
X 



482 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

on their religion, and on their ancient manners and customs. He 
thought it impossible to attempt the final revision and publication 
of the third volume till the two former ones were finished, on 
account of the references to them. This plan he did not live to 
carry out ; it was reserved to the friendship of his disciple and 
friend, Professor Classen, to revise the manuscript of Niebuhr's 
third volume for the press. The second edition of the first vol- 
ume was finished in the summer of 1826, exactly as Niebuhr 
completed his fiftieth year. It had cost him great labor, for he 
had thought it necessary to alter the arrangement so considerably, 
and to rewrite so many passages, that it was substantially a new 
work. His literary conscientiousness led him not seldom to sac- 
rifice favorite passages because they did not quite correspond to 
his riper convictions, or disturbed the symmetry of the proportions. 
But above all, he was most careful to express the exact degree 
of confidence which he felt with regard to each of his assertions. 

The reception which his work met with, not only in Germany, 
where half the copies of the new edition were ordered before the 
last sheets had left the press, but also in foreign countries, caused 
him great delight. Even from Boston, U. S., he received an 
enthusiastic review of his History and an academical diploma, 
a most unexpected honor to him as coming from that quarter. 
Various applications were made to him by booksellers and literary 
men in France and England who were desirous of obtaining his 
sanction and assistance in the translation of the work. The lat- 
ter he readily granted, sometimes at the cost of considerable in- 
terruption to his other occupations. jSTiebuhr was not easily sat- 
isfied ; the care with which he wrote rendered it the more annoy- 
ing to him when the exact sense and color of his thoughts had 
not been preserved, or when, in the attempt to do so, the genius 
of a foreign language was violated, and thus the impressions 
which he wished to produce destroyed. He, however, considered 
the translation executed by Messrs. Thirlwall and Hare, at the 
cost of the University of Cambridge, a more perfectly successful 
attempt than he had even thought possible. 

About this time, Niebuhr undertook the joint editorship, with 
Brandis and Hasse, of the " Rheinische Museum," a periodical 
for jurisprudence, philology, and the histoiy of philosophy. 

In February, 1826, he established, with Brandis and a few 
others, a philological society, similar to that which had afforded 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. . 483 

him so many pleasant hours in Berlin in the years 1810 and 1811. 
During this year, he was much depressed by the defeat of the 
Greeks, whose struggle he had watched with his usual ardent 
sympathy in human welfare, and also by the death of his* friend 
Voss, the last of his friends belonging to the former generation. 
On the other hand, he was reminded of all that he still possessed 
in his friends by the visits of M. von Stem, Professor Falk, M. 
Pertz from Hanover, and several others. Most of the foreigners 
who came to Bonn visited him. He had, in particular, so many 
connections with England, that scarcely any Englishman of note 
came unprovided with letters of introduction to him. The num- 
ber of these casual visitors caused him serious interruption to his 
studies. In this year, the present King of Prussia, then Crown 
Prince, visited the Rhine repeatedly. His presence was always 
a source of real gratification to Niebuhr, who still preserved the 
affection for him, and high esteem for his character, which he 
had formed when the Prince was his pupil in Berlin. 

The winter of 1826-27 was passed in laborious and cheerful 
application to his studies. He succeeded in obtaining a dispensa- 
tion from attendance on the sittings of the Council of State, but, 
at the request of this body, prepared a report for the Westphalian 
Chambers on the establishment of a projected Bank. In the 
beginning of the year 1827, he commenced the revision of the 
second volume of the Roman History, and soon found that it 
would be necessary entirely to re-write this portion also, contain- 
ing the period down to the decemviral constitution. In addition 
to this work he drew up a prospectus for a new edition of the 
Byzantine historians for the publisher Weber in Bonn, of which 
he edited the Agathias himself, besides superintending the pro- 
gress of the whole undertaking. Niebuhr always rejoiced in being 
able to further such schemes, both for the sake of the literary 
objects which he thus promoted, and because it gave him the 
opportunity of exciting and aiding others to similar pursuits. In 
a short time a third edition of the first volume was required ; in 
this he had comparatively little to alter, but here also he made 
additions, particularly with respect to the history of the primitive 
races, of Alba, the Luceres, the election of consuls, &c. It was 
printed in the autumn of this year. Toward the end of the sum- 
mer, Professor Twesten, of Kiel, paid a visit to Niebuhr, accom- 
panied by his wife, who was a cousin of Madame Niebuhr, and 



484 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR,. 

had been one of her earliest friends. Twesten had also been a 
pupil of Niebuhr' s in Berlin, and one in whom he had always 
felt a particular interest. Excepting his sister, who had visited 
him in 1825, he had seen none of his relations since 1816. This 
was the first renewal of personal intercourse with them, and gave 
rise in his mind to the resolution of taking a journey to Holstein. 
Up to this time he seems to have dreaded the impression which 
the recollection of former times would make upon him, but after 
he had once decided on the journey he eagerly rejoiced in the 
prospect of revisiting the home of his youth, and thus linking 
together the present and the past. 

In the winter of 1827-28, M. Classen, of Hamburgh (now 
Professor in Lubeck), entered Niebuhr's family as tutor to Marcus, 
and a very warm friendship rapidly sprang up between him and 
Niebuhr. In letters to his intimate friends Niebuhr often ex- 
presses his satisfaction in having secured such a tutor for Marcus, 
and his own pleasure in Classen's society. Classen continued to 
reside in the family till the death of Niebuhr ; he watched over 
his dying bed, and superintended the education of his orphan son 
with the utmost care and affection. It was Classen too who pre- 
pared the third volume of the History of Home for the press, 
which Niebuhr left in a half-finished state. In the spring of 
1828, Niebuhr had the great pleasure of receiving a visit from 
his friend and successor in Rome, Chevalier Bunsen. 

The increasing ill-health of Madame Niebuhr during this win- 
ter, threatened to put a stop to the projected journey to Holstein, 
but she improved as the spring advanced, and in May the whole 
family set out for Kiel. There they passed the summer in the 
house of Madame. Hensler, and surrounded by their friends, whom 
they had not seen for twelve years. The time was spent in 
happy social intercourse and excursions into the beautiful scenery 
of that part of Holstein. On such occasions, Niebuhr was always 
the centre of a group of children, who had soon discovered the 
willingness with which he entered into all their amusements, and 
his inability to refuse them any gratification. One fortnight he 
devoted to a visit to Copenhagen, in company with his son and 
Twesten. He was gratified by the evident signs of increasing 
wealth in his country, but the growing luxury and love of amuse- 
ment disturbed him. He writes — " Every one must allow that 
the population of Holstein equals that of any province of Germany 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 485 

in cultivation and intelligence, though it is subject to many disad- 
vantages from its position on the outer edge of literary Germany. 
What struck me most, in my last visit to Kiel, is the sort of 
Viennese life I remarked there, ou Von s'acquitte consciencieuse- 
ment du devoir qu'on s'est impose de s'amuser." 

The following account of the last year of Niebuhr's life is from 
the pen of his friend Professor Classen, from whose essay on 
" Niebuhr's life and sphere of action in Bonn"* many of the facts 
in the former part of this section are derived. 

" The peace of Niebuhr's life in Bonn was broken by the storms 
of the year 1830 ; first came the personal calamity that his new 
house, in the arrangement of which he had taken so much pleas- 
ure, was burnt down in the night of the 6th of February ; and 
before order and comfort could be created afresh from the ruins 
of his domestic existence, the news arrived of the second French 
revolution. The former misfortune affected him deeply, for he 
found his dearest happiness in the peace and order of home ; but 
his noble nature was beautifully displayed on the night of the fire. 
As soon as he had recovered from the first fearful shock, and had 
seen his wife and children safe in the house of a kind neighbor, 
he compared the weight of this blow to other events of his life, 
and said, sadly, but with composure, to a friend, 'It is indeed a 
misfortune, but I do not feel nearly so overcome and depressed as 
I did in the night after the battle of Bautzen, when I was near 
head-quarters, and believed the, cause of my country to be, if not 
lost, in the most imminent peril. If only the manuscript of the 
second volume of my Roman History is found again, I can get 
over every thing else ; and, at the worst, I feel I have still power 
enough left to replace my History, and will set to work again 
with God's help in a few days;' He conversed thus for some 
hours with noble calmness, while watching the flames as they 
devoured their rich booty. Once only he inquired anxiously after 
the fate of the She- wolf, a beautiful cast of the -well-known group 
in the Capitol, which had been given him by his wife, and always 
stood hi his library ; and he expressed the strongest desire that it 
might be saved ; he had always liked to consider it as the guard- 
ian genius of the house. Some of his younger friends hurried into 
the burning house, reached the room, and with much difficulty 
* Lebensnachrichten, vol. iii. p. 283. 



486 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

brought away the heavy cast; but in the hasty descent of the 
staircase, it was knocked in several places, and reached the bot- 
tom in ruins. Niebuhr buried the fragments with melancholy 
feelings in his garden. 

" For the first few days after the fire, the sight of the desolation 
it had caused rendered his regret more poignant than it had been 
in the first moment. He was especially grieved by the destruc- 
tion, as he feared, of his library; for all his books had been 
thrown out of the windows of the second story in a heap on the 
snow and mud of the street, and had not been placed under 
shelter till the morning. It cost him many days' labor to look 
through what was saved, and bring it into order ; but tnere was 
great rejoicing when here and there a precious treasure was found 
again which had been looked on as lost ; and the re-appearance 
of the longed-for manuscript of the second volume was greeted 
with hearty cheers : only a few sheets written out ready for the 
press were missing, the sketch of the whole had been preserved 
entire. It was scarcely less than miraculous that his loss in books 
turned out after all to be very slight ; many indeed were more or 
less injured. Many papers and letters were gone, among the rest 
his correspondence with his father. 

" A new house was soon taken, while the other one was rebuilt 
on an enlarged scale. In the prospect of a speedy change Nie- 
buhr endured the inconvenience of the new and necessarily hasty 
household arrangements with unruffled cheerfulness ; still he 
could not feel quite at ease in them, and the recollection of his 
misfortune, combined with his fears for its effects on Iris beloved 
wife, rendered him no doubt more than usually susceptible to 
gloomy impressions. It was in this mood that he first heard the 
news of the Three Days of July, news which would have affected 
him most profoundly under whatever circumstances they had first 
reached him. Few of his contemporaries took such deep and con- 
stant interest in all the events of the day — few had the same 
power of appreciating all their bearings and consequences. In 
such a mind as his, this was naturally not the result of fluctuating 
curiosity, nor the want of a passing amusement, but of a thorough 
comprehension of the antecedents and tendencies of his age, as far 
as such can be possessed by one individual. And he now saw 
himself most bitterly deceived — disappointed in all his hopes and 
expectations ; he had never given the court party credit for such 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 487 

blindness, nor believed the people of Paris capable of such resist 
ance, whether it may have been the consequence*of momentary 
excitement, or of a concerted plan. Enough — the revolution had 
taken place, and brought in its train many violent changes, while 
it threatened to spread the sphere of its activity to other countries. 
But however much he might be distracted and saddened, during 
the five months in which he was still a spectator of the world's 
history, by the feverish convulsions of the age, and yet more by 
the strife of opinions as to their real significance, he never failed 
to recognize with perfect clearness and distinctness in the uni- 
versal confusion, which evil was in truth the lesser ; never 
wavered in his attachment to his country and his king, but 
exerted himself on every opportunity to awaken and invigorate 
the patriotism of those around him. 

The last political occurrence in which Niebuhr was strongly 
interested was the trial of the ministers of Charles the Tenth ; it 
• was indirectly the cause of his death. He read the reports in the 
French journals with eager attention ; and as these newspapers 
were much in request at that time, from the universal interest felt 
hi their contents, he did not in general go to the public reading- 
rooms, where he was accustomed to see the papers daily, until the 
evening. On Christmas Eve and the following day, he was in better 
health and spirits than for a long time, but on the evening of the 
25th of December, he spent a long time waiting and reading in 
the hot news-room, without taking off his thick fur cloak, and then 
returned home through the bitter frosty night air, heated in mind 
and body. Still full of the impression made on him by the papers, 
he went straight to Classen's room, and exclaimed, " That is true 
eloquence ! You must read Sauzet's speech ; he alone declares 
the true state of the case ; that this is no question of law, but 
an open battle between hostile powers ! Sauzet must be no 
common man ! But," he added immediately, " I have taken a 
severe chill, I must go to bed." And from the couch which he 
then sought, he never rose again, except for one hour, two days 
afterward, when he was forced to return to it quickly, with warn- 
ing symptoms of his approaching end. 

His illness lasted a week, and was pronounced, on the fourth 
day, to be a decided attack of inflammation on the lungs. His 
hopes sank at first, but rose with his increasing danger and weak- 
ness ; even on the morning of the last day he said, " I can still 



488 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

recover." Two days "before, his faithful wife, who had exerted 
herself beyond "her strength in nursing him, fell ill and was obliged 
to leave him. He then turned his face to the wall, and exclaim- 
ed, with the most pain§il presentiment, " Hapless house ! To lose 
father and mother at once !" And to the children he said, " Pray 
to God, children ! He alone can help us !" And his attendants 
saw that he himself was seeking comfort and strength in silent 
prayer. But when his hopes of life revived, his active and power- 
ful mind soon demanded its wonted occupation. The studies that 
had been dearest to him through life, remained so in death ; his 
love to them was proved to be pure and genuine, by its unwaver- 
ing perseverance to„ the last. "While he was on his sick-bed, 
Classen read aloud to him for hours the Greek text of the Jewish 
History of Josephus, and he followed the sense with such ease and 
attention, that he suggested several emendations in the text at the 
moment ; this may be called an unimportant circumstance, but it 
always appeared to us one of the most wonderful proofs of his 
mental powers. The last scientific work in which he was able to 
testify his interest, was the description of Rome by Bunsen and his 
friends, which had just been sent to him ; the preface to the first 
volume was read aloud to him, and called forth expressions of 
pleasure and approbation. He also asked for light reading to pass 
the time, but our attempts to satisfy him were unsuccessful. A 
friend proposed the " Briefe eines Verstorbenen," which was then 
making a sensation ; but he declined it, saying he feared that its 
levity would jar upon his feelings. One of Cooper's novels was 
recommended to him, and aroused his ridicule by its extraordinary 
verbiage : he was much amused by an experiment which he pro- 
posed, and which consisted in taking one sentence at hap-hazard 
on each page ; a mode of reading which did little violence to the 
connection of the story. The " Kolnische Zeitung" was read aloud 
to him up to the last day, with extracts from the French and other 
journals. He asked for them expressly, only twelve hours before 
his death, and gave his opinion half in jest about the change of 
ministry in Paris. But on the afternoon of the 1st of January, 
1831, he sank into a dreamy slumber; once on awakening, he 
said that pleasant images floated before him in sleep : now and 
then he spoke French in his dreams, probably he felt himself in 
the presence of his departed friend De Serre. As the night gath- 
ered, consciousness gradually disappeared, he woke up once more 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 489 

about midnight, when the last remedy was administered ; he re- 
cognized in it a medicine of doubtful operation, never resorted to 
but in extreme cases, and said in a faint voice, " What essential 
substance is this ? Am I so far gone ?" These were his last 
words ; he sank back on his pillow, and within an hour his noble 
heart had ceased to beat. 

Niebuhr's wife died nine days after him, on the 11th of the 
same month, about the same hour of the night. She died, in fact, 
of a broken heart, though her disease was, like his, an inflamma- 
tion of the chest. She could shed no tears, though she longed for 
them, and prayed God to send them ; once her eyes grew moist, 
when his picture was brought to her at her own request, but they 
dried again, and her heavy heart was not relieved. She had her 
children often with her, particularly her son, and gave them her 
parting counsels. And so her loving and pure soul went home to 
God. Both rest in one grave, over which the present King of 
Prussia has erected a monument to the memory of his former in- 
structor and counselor. The children were placed under the care 
of Madame Hensler, at Kiel. 

Letters from Way, 1825, to December, 1830. 
CCCXXXIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 12th May, 1825. 

I have begun the course of lectures I announced, and succeed 

very well in delivering them extempore, by which the labor I have under- 
taken will be comparatively inconsiderable : in fact, I am quite certain that 
I shall be able henceforward to continue the Roman History at the same 
time with my lectures, and to give my Marcus lessons for at least an hour 
and a half each day. Yesterday 298 persons inscribed their names as 
hearers ; there were not, indeed, so many present, because there was liter- 
ally not room for them in the Lecture-hall ; many stood, and the windows 
had to be taken out that we might not be suffocated. This throng may 
very likely, nay, will almost certainly, diminish by degrees ; still, it is 
quite clear that the young men receive my course with real gratitude a* a 
friendly gift, and that many of the Professors regard me as a welcome 
fellow- worker ; the citizens also seem pleased that I have chosen to live 
among them. 

The purchase-deed of our garden will be signed in a few days, and if 
we can find a house for sale in the neighborhood of the garden, that suits 
ns, or that can be made suitable by a few additions, we shall certainly 
take advantage of it. Bad as the state of the world is in many respects, 
it is still an inestimable advantage to be able to recover energy and in- 
clination to settle yourself, and make purchases for the rest of one's life ; 
and in our own house, under our own trees, we shall be contented to let 
x* 



490 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

alone what we can not alter, and what would not be improved by most of 
those who want to alter it. You likewise can remember the time before 
the commotions of the world had banished the quiet of private domestic 
life ; when the laying out of a garden and the success of a plantation was 
an important event to the head of a household and his friends. I have 
still a very lively recollection of those tranquil days, and how they passed 
away so entirely that I did not believe they would ever return during our 
lifetime. But they seem to have returned as it were in the progress of 
convalescence. I am far from being the only one who is more interested 
in the question, whether and how our town shall and can be enlarged, and 
the neighborhood improved, than in the affairs of the world ; — if only they 
would not exterminate the Greeks ! 

Our garden occupies an old bastion and part of a curtain, so that it 
seems to be on a hill, and has a view of the Sieben Gebirge, and the range 
of the so-called Vorgebirge, and the magnificent Poppelsdorf Allee. It is 
full of beautiful fruit-trees and vines, which are the more valuable here, as 
the grapes ripen well and early if the season is tolerable, and the aspect 
favorable, and good grapes are rarely to be had in the market. From be- 
ing laid out on a bastion, the lines of division in the garden have acquired 
a certain peculiarity which could hardly have been obtained by art. We 
are about to replace .dead trees by new ones, and are tranquilly planting 
what will take years before it will produce any thing. Why have you not 
enjoyed this heavenly spring in our garden, dear Dora ? 

cccxxxiy. 

12th June, 1825. 

I continue to receive encourageznent in my lectures The 

attentive investigation of the history of these obscure periods is interesting 
to myself, and profitable as a preparation for the period of the Roman 
History when that of Macedon falls into it. Indeed when I have finished 
the third volume, and revised the first, I think I should like, by way of 
change, to dictate the history of Greece, which I am now delivering, in quite 
a different form, not as a learned work. The course of lectures which I 
mean to deliver this winter on Roman Antiquities, will be useful to me in 
the revision of my history. Whether it will also be useful to my auditors 
to any great extent I do not know ; but my trouble will certainly not be 
quite lost. The young man who gives Marcus lessons, and is our com- 
panion at table, is one of those who receive what I say with affectionate 
interest ; and according to his testimony there are many who do so. among 
the great number of young philologists, who are rising up here on all sides, 
where a few years ago, out of a hundred thousand souls, there was not one 
who understood Greek. I have defended Demosthenes upon full conviction, 
as warmly as if the question concerned a living man, and the young men 
listened to me with evident sympathy. I never before saw Demosthenes' 
greatness and excellence in such a striking light. The University here is 
much decried abroad, as if we lived under Heaven knows what tyranny of 
the police, and as if the young men were tnminor <"n1holirs by shoals. Both 
reports are quite untrue; no one meets with any molestation nnless be 
commit some great extravagance ; and there is no danger of conversion to 
Catholicism except when a young man falls in. love in a proselyting family. 
But there are very few such 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 491 

cccxxxv. 

Bonn, 20tk October, 1825. 

I have been ill since I wrote to you. It was a rheumatic pleurisy, for- 
tunately not violent, but I was quite confined to my bed for four days. 

You ask after the continuation of my History, dearest Dora. I should 
have resumed it this summer — the lectures would not have interfered with 
it to any extent — but G-retchen's journey to the baths stood in the way ; 
I was obliged to devote myself more than usual to the children who were 
left behind. On this account I was unable to set to work, and I have only 
begun the continuation during the present month. The lectures this win- 
ter will be no hindrance to me, still the work will advance but slowly. I 
am satisfied on the whole with what I have done latterly. Life is stirring 
among the heap of dry bones, and I feel while writing the history as if I 
were borrowing it from some newly-discovered old records. I may, how- 
ever, very likely be censured for going too much into details. Another cir- 
cumstance will give still more occasion for blame. In the first half of the 
imprinted volume I invented a speech ; I have now composed a second, and 
the outline of one in reply to it. I know beforehand all the cavils that will 
be made against this ; but I know as well as any one what is essential to 
a living representation of the past, and that it is not possible to enter into 
the way in which decisive resolutions are formed in critical moments, un- 
less the reader can look into the souls of those who conceive or influence the 
decision, not through the help of common-places, but by means of a thor- 
ough insight into all the special circumstances of the case. Such speeches 
as those, of which Thucydides has given us the highest mo'del, are truly the 
lamps of history ; I grant that a man must be bold, and free from super- 
stitious scrupulosity, to invent them for periods concerning which only 
scanty fragments of facts are left. The ancient historians have too often 
treated moral and political common-places in this form, and such passages 
are indeed absolutely worthless. When I have finished the first Punic war, 
I shall write three essays for the same volume upon the earliest metrical 
art of the Romans, on their religion, and on their ancient manners and 
customs ; and then I shall proceed, not without trembling, to the revision 
of the first volume. The materials for additions are extremely rich ; and 
as I now see clearly what I only divined or had a presentiment of when I 
wrote it, I shall be obliged to take it to pieces almost throughout, and erect 
the old portions, combined with new ones, into a more extensive structure. 
I shall thank God if I live to finish at least this much of my task, for then 
I shall have accomplished the restoration of a history that was almost 
universally misunderstood, even so early as 1800 years ago. The taking 
of Alexandria by Augustus is the limit to which I propose to bring it down ; 
this I still hope to reach 

CCCXXXVI. 

TO PERTHES. 

Bonn, 1th March, 1826. 
I wish, dear Perthes, that you knew any one who had as exten- 
sive a knowledge of the history of commerce during the past century as 
my late friend Biisch, that you might prevail upon him to 'write the history 
of commerce and finance during the last hundred and fifty years. I know 



492 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

a great deal about it myself in a fragmentary way, but not connectedly. 
Besides, even for those who have not that strong interest in monetary 
affairs which I am not ashamed of confessing, they form as essential a part 
of the world's history as the history of epidemics. Before 1721, no uni- 
versal commercial crisis had been known ; they are now become more and 
more frequent, and it is enough to make one shudder to think of the future, 
when a chain of credit-giving establishments will extend through the whole 
of Spanish America, as well as through the United States. Truly the in- 
dependence of these States opens an abyss ; the natural arrangement would 
have been that Europe should have traded with these countries through 
the medium of an emporium such as Cadiz. However, of what use is it 
to know this ? The old order of things is fast passing away through the 
fault of those who were its rightful heads, and who would have been the 
first gainers by it, if they had known how to maintain it. The counter- 
revolution in France opens gloomy prospects to Germany likewise. In our 
provinces the oligarchy have carried out their plans respecting the elections 
by deceiving the Government, and are aiming at Jesuitism and the like. 
If Prussia were out of the question one need feel less anxiety about the 
matter 5 for that party can not obtain any present success. 

You are quite right in maintaining that neither the gymnastic nor the 
Mennonite regime can conduce to a real and noble respect for the laws. I 
believe that every system of training which inspires heathen or Christian 
arrogance, and leads people to consider themselves as privileged individuals, 
has an equally .corrupting effect. 

How is your series of histories proceeding ? Shall you carry it out ? 
My wife is again very sickly ; the children, too, are not free from indisposi- 
tion. As for myself, since I have at least twenty years to live (for it is 
not the fashion here to die before seventy), I am striving to make up in 
creative labors and enjoyment of life, for what I have lust in both during 
the best years of my life. 

CCCXXXVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 19 th March, 1826. 
I have now concluded my lectures with the reward of very decisive ap- 
probation. The lectures close very early here, and I with a few others 
have continued them some days after the courses of the regular professors 
had concluded, and have had a respectable though much diminished audi- 
ence. The numbers had kept up, in general, during the winter beyond 
my expectation. Brandis, D' Alton, and several other professors were 
among my hearers. My lectures were received with uncommon interest 
among the students, although they are accustomed here, in general, 
tation, and require it; and their expressions of thanks and attachment 
quite surprised me. One young man, as I gave him his certificate, put 
into my hand, with great embarrassment, a letter of thanks ; seized my 
hand, and said he could never thank me enough, I had awakened a new 
life in him. Most of those who have been thus aroused are Catholics, on 
whom a new life is indeed breaking, through the study of the sciences, from 
which they have been so long excluded, and I trust they will diffuse it over 
a wide sphere. Their abilities, moi I 



RESIDENCE fiST BONN. 493 

of a very encouraging character. It is certainly incontestable that philo- 
logy now stands many degrees higher than it did thirty years ago. The 
knowledge, which then distinguished the few who possessed it, is now be- 
come common property. 

The idea of standing at the head of a school will not allure me ; on this 
point I know myself; though with the present state of party feeling in 
Germany, it is almost necessary as a matter of self-defense ; and if our 
disciples and adherents enter the lists with our opponents, we need not 
hold them back. I have met with some cases of this kind already among 
persons who are strangers to me. The revision of the first volume involves 
immense labor 

CCCXXXVIII. 

Bonn, <Mth April, 1826. 

I have been much affected by the death of old Voss. He was 

the last remaining one of the elder generation with whom the memories of 
my childhood and youth were bound up : I felt myself still young, so long 
as I knew, and might yet see, one living person whom I had seen as a boy, 
and to whom, as a youth, I had looked up with affection. It was not with- 
out some anxiety that I went to visit him on my journey hither three years 
ago. Christiana had more than once written me word, that he had in- 
quired if I had not turned Catholic ! And this, be it remarked, after I had 
set up a Protestant chapel in my house ! I felt angry at such a suspicion, 
besides, the Stolberg affair had left a deep wound behind, as was the case 
with you too. But the memory of old times prevailed, and I found that it 
was necessary with him too, not to overlook the palliating circumstances — 
that there were excuses for much that had passed after the first step. I 
felt as much affection as ever for my aged friend, whose freshness of mind 
had something uncommonly venerable about it. I have written to him 
several times since, and his answers were very cordial. The last time I 
wrote to him was on his birthday, and those about him tell me that this 
was almost the last lively gratification that he enjoyed. He intended to 
pay us a visit this summer, and this project was almost the last thing of 
which he spoke. I should have gone to see him in the holidays if he had 
lived. He had already fallen asleep when I fixed my intentions. 

Events have justified his predictions in many things about which he was 
not, properly speaking, in the right, and still less a prophet. A league 
such as he believed in. was a fevered dream; but things are happening 
now, and others are impending, which are exactly what he indicated as 
the work of this assumed league. It requires much historical experience 
and resignation to retain one's equanimity in spite of all that is passing 
before our eyes ; the influence of the bigoted, monkish, in fact, downright 
Jesuitical party among the Catholics, in matters of public instruction, is 
most sad. I could, perhaps, bring on a crisis if I were to write on the 
subject, but the result is too uncertain. This is a more dangerous business 
than the alleged favoritism shown toward the hereditary aristocracy, which 
may produce ill effects for a generation, but can not have any permanent 
consequences. It is indeed clear, I think, that the commoner is regarded 
by the nobleman with a dislike such as has not existed before for the last 
forty years. The misfortune is, that this feeling enfeebles the whole of 
Germany, and particularly our •la s s. which is the sinews of Hie country, 



494 MEMOIR-OF NIEBUHR. 

France is also growing very weary, and there, where the political volcano 
seems to have spent itself, the priests are creating fresh elements of com- 
bustion 

I went to Elberfeldt by the diligence last week, and returned by way of 
Dusseldorf, where I visited the " Tanten Jacobi." * It did me good, only 
it was not enough. Elberfeldt is, as you probably know, the seat of the 
Protestant fanatics. I heard such a sermon ! it happened to be the general 
fast-day. But I was told there was another which would have given us 
something still more outrageous. 

The men of business there are clever and energetic. It is a real pleas- 
ure to see how new firms and new enterprises are constantly coming into 
existence, just as in England. The whole duchy of Berg presents this 
cheerful aspect. New roads are making in all directions, and rows of 
houses springing up along them. Manufactures are in a most flourishing 
condition. 

CCCXXXIX. 

Bonn, 2lst May, 1826. 

The horrible fate of Missolonghi almost deadens my feelings both 

to immediate and more distant objects of interest. Without attaching full 
credence to the reports of success, I had lulled myself into security, and 
the blow came upon me this time quite unexpectedly. I can not divert 
my thoughts from it. Marcus, who is only just beginning to turn his at- 
tention to political events, is quite broken-hearted. He wanted to employ 
his savings'-box for the subscription, and, uniting the ideas of a child with 
the earnestness of a man, he proposed to melt his leaden soldiers into bul- 
lets. From the time that the first rumor of the lamentable disaster had 
reached us, he could not bear to look at the map of Turkey. Amelia 
studies maps with" him, and gets him to tell her about the places ; this 
ma]) he imploringly refused to tell her about ; and when she innocently 
laughed at him for it, he threw himself on my breast, sobbing bitterly. 
Alas, what hope is now left ! The heroes are gone, the Suliots are ex- 
terminated, and how horrible to think of the women and children in the 
power of these barbarians. What can the too long delayed assistance 
avail now ? England has played a detestable part. My old affection for 
her is well-nigh extinguished. And yet when England is fallen, who knows 
but what we may bitterly feel the want of her hereafter ? 

My whole attention is fixed on the proceedings of the Catholics. It 
seems to me unquestionable that a bold faction among them are secretly 
aiming to bring on a religious war. In France, the priests have been di- 
recting all their efforts for the last ten years to the attainment of physical 
power, and they have already succeeded in recovering their hold on the 
populace ; and this while they had no means of constraint at their disposal. 
The prospect that we Protestants may need a Russian Gustavus Adolphus 
to defend us is frightful. I was relating to Marcus yesterday the history 
of the religious wars and their horrors. I was glad to see that he distin- 
guished between the bad Catholics and the good ones, such as our friends, 
who would never have acted so; and also that lie 'lid not undcrstrui.l at 
all how Protestants could persecute. He thought that would be impossi- 
ble, for they knew that the Catholics were in error-, and you could not hate 
* The sisters of the philosopher Jacobi. 



RESILENCE IN BONN. 495 

a person for being mistaken. Our Catholic friends are, indeed, only sep- 
arated from ourselves by forms ; while treated as heretics by the fanatics, 
they are quite intimate with us, and the most intelligent man among 
them said to me yesterday, " Superstition is, after all, much more detest- 
able and mischievous than unbelief." 

CCCXL. 

Bonn, 21st June, 1826. 

The printing of the first volume in the new edition has at last com- 
menced, and will now advance steadily 

My French translator was here the end of last week. At all events, he 
understands German perfectly, and goes to work with great enthusiasm. 
According to his testimony, expectation is universally excited about it in 
France, and the publisher is so certain of a brilliant reception, that he will 
print at least two thousand copies. Such a celebrity among foreign nations 
is very agreeable to the natural man, philosophize about it as you please ; 
and I least of all make pretensions to be a saint in this respect, or even 
a philosopher. 

Fifteen years ago I had no idea of the possibility of appearing as an 
author, although I had a very disthict feeling of the worthlessness of that 
which called itself ancient history ; and when I began my lectures at 
Berlin, under the animating influence of your presence, I never dreamt 
that they could become the basis of an enduring work. When I see how 
the ideas which began to dawn upon me in the course of the lectures, have 
gradually become as clear as day ; how the chaos has been resolved into 
distinct facts — nay, separate details, it is astonishing even to myself. But 
it really borders upon a miraculous intervention of Providence, that so many 
remarkable things have been brought to light within the last few years, 
which were indispensable to the determination of certain points. 

My Frenchman gave me a good deal of interesting information respect- 
ing the internal condition of his country, agreeing with what an attentive 
reader may gather from the journals. The pretensions of the priests, who 
are for the most part utterly uneducated men from the lowest classes, have 
produced an exasperation against them, which has called forth a party 
capable of setting them at defiance, notwithstanding the patronage of the 
King. It is singular how the various parties unite in their common op- 
position to the clergy, so that people who thought themselves unalterably 
embittered against each other in politics five years ago, are now quite re- 
conciled. This, indeed, has been only rendered possible by the fact that, 
thank God, the revolutionary plans of the liberals have been frustrated. 
For I quite understand how, in France, men whose views fully harmonize 
with my own, can become reconciled to those whose earlier follies have 
■wrought such indescribable calamity. I have just the same feelings ; I 
would not only send my respects to Royer-Collard, but if Fox were living, 
should be happy to make his acquaintance. 

The sentiments of the Englisb, as a nation, with regard to the Greek 
cnusp are undi^nisoilly bad. An Austrian is n<~>t answerable for the acts 
of his government, but the English are answerable for uttering no expres- 
sion of commiseration, no cry for help, when there was nothing to prevent 
them. It is quite different in France ; there, tones have resounded in the 
public journals that have issued from the depths of the heart, and find an 



496 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

echo in the inmost heart of the reader. Have you read Tiedge's poem, 
"The Struggle of the Greeks with Barbarism?" I should never have 
thought him capable of producing such a work ; 'faulty as the verses are, 
considered merely as poetry. The conception is terribly beautiful. But 
i can not understand how it is that the excitement should not be much 
greater and more universal in Germany. One sickens at the specious show 
of feeling, and the faint-hearted apathy of men whom you must allow to 
pass for well-meaning persons. The personal feeling of our King is very 
evident and very honorable to him. 

CCCXLI. 

Bonn, 16th July, 1826. 

This time fifteen years I made a pause in«the composition of my 

History — during our journey to Holstein. That was indeed, dear Dora, 
as you call it, the blossoming time of my life. And yet, if it were not 
winter around me, there were yet within me a time of bloom, if not of 
spring or summer. I do not feel at all old yet in mind ; my life is pro- 
longed by love and happiness, and puts forth fresh shoots. My knowledge 
has increased greatly in variety and extent since that time ; but I should 
never have undertaken the work, had I then had the accumulation of ma- 
terials which it now costs me weary labor to organize. 

I can not say that I could ever repent my resolution to take up our 
abode here, since I have once for all given up a more agreeable and attract- 
ive life ; which I confess I must not allow myself to look back upon, else 
my heart swells and my eyes moisten. And yet, it may be best so, for in 
this degenerate state of politics, my position there would have become 
very difficult. Ten years hence, I may very likely be able to make another 
journey across the Alps. My spirits rise at this castle in the air, and 
Marcus is delighted. We had a visit yesterday from Wilhelm Voss, whom 
I had not seen since 1811, and like much better now, than in his youthful 
days, one-and-twenty years ago, when he was a Bonapartist at the time 
of our disaster at Ulm. He had with him the proof sheets of the second 
part of the " Anti-symbolik," containing an extremely pleasing autobio- 
graphy of his father's youth — the first fifteen years of his life — but also a 
fuller recapitulation of the quarrel with Heyne than has ever yet appeared; 
unspeakably painful. I had intended to write a very short essay indicating 
what Voss had been to the nation and to literature, and to append to it 
a few apologetic pages on the origin of the ill-feeling in this affair ; which 
now I can not do. 

The sisters Jacobi were here a month with their nephew, the president. 
They had with them the correspondence of Goethe with their brother, which 
is a great curiosity. These letters show Goethe in an unexpectedly favor- 
able light; they exhibit a large heart, and strong deep emotions. Jacobi's 
letters are constrained, artificial, and labored; it gives me pain to say this. 
In the first period of their acquaintance, before Goethe goes to Weimar, ho 
notices tins on one occasion ; he wishes for his friend a growth in love, 
and thereby in simplicity and productive power. 

How sad it is, on the contrary, to see the idolatry which Goethe suffers 
to be paid to him now, about which you too have probably seen the ele- 
gantly-printed book ! 

The listers lacobi bear a grudge against Q 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 497 

it appears, on account of the "Goldsmith of Ephesus," the conclusion of 
which it must be granted, is unintelligible, but certainly not intended as 
they take it; and on account of his description of Ms stay at Pempelfort,* 
in 1792. 

You think that universal sympathy must overpower the governments ? 
Alas ! you do not understand the matter, and do not know the extent of 
our political paralysis. In England there has not been the remotest ex- 
pression of feeling as in France ; the proclamation which prevented the 
departure of the ship lying ready equipped, caused the destruction of Mis- 
solonghi, and it has not been censured in any opposition paper. Hence I 
blame that nation beyond all others. Unhappily the feeling among us hi 
Germany is very superficial ; and we must be more ashamed of the levity 
which has allowed us so soon to forget the dreadful end of Missolonghi, 
than rejoiced at the liberality previously shown 

CCCXLII. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Bonn, 6th August, 1826. 

Our government must give us credit for a high opinion of the import- 
ance of our thoughts and words, my old friend, when they set a price upon 
our letters, exceeding that of many small books. I am any thing but 
parsimonious, but I should write four or five times as many letters, if it 
were not for the high postage, which makes a single letter cost as much 
as four printed sheets, on the composition and revision of which you have 
exerted every power of your mind. However, it is not merely, or chiefly, 
the opportunity of sending you a few lines — lines, for the time of long, 
though rare letters, has vanished years ago — but an ardent desire to say 
a word of affection to you on your journey. May it be blessed to you ! 
I trust it will, for I have myself found health in Italy, which I had thought 
denied to me forever. God grant that you may find it so likewise ! So 
you are taking the same route which I did just ten years ago. You will 
know how to enjoy its pleasures, which I foolishly threw away like a 
froward child. It is easier for you also ; for what did I hope for then ? 
How much was there to which I was obliged to resign myself ! You can 
overlook what is foolish and what is bad ; as I should now overlook it my- 
self. Go with your heart and all your senses open to the earthly paradise, 
to Naples above all, and shut your eyes to every thing of which you have 
a presentiment that it would irritate you 

Where shall I send you the new edition of my first volume ? the revision 
of which is nearly completed, but the printing advances slowly. I wish 
you may read it when perfectly at leisure, and that it may satisfy you. 
It is immensely enhanced in value : much of the new part is, I think, well 
written ; much has been sacrificed, even where I have not been able to re- 
place what has been omitted with any thing equally good ; some portions 
which my friends will miss; but nothing is left which I could not have 
written in its present form with full conviction. What has become of that 
time, fifteen years ago, when my daring creations filled me with happiness 
and delighted you ? I do not feel old yet ; I feel much clearer in my 
mind, and much richer m knowledge, but not, as then, fruitful in com- 
* Jacobi's residence. 



498 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

binations and inventions. I long to have finished the revision, that I may 
proceed to the third volume. It is wearisome to write what you know 
already, and have brought into a clear point of view. From my child- 
. hood, among the divine attributes, that of preserving has always seemed 
to me extremely ennuyant / as an employment almost beneath an angel, 
and hence we can not wonder that affairs do not proceed particularly well. 

I am acting as if a leave-taking were before me, when we jest because 
our heart is heavy. My heart is very heavy, my old friend ! and yet I 
hope your journey will do you good. A passionate longing to be across 
the Alps again, still seizes upon me when the birds take their flight thither ; 
and how much more when it is a friend ! Why did you not come when 
I was there ? Why have I not been allowed to be your guide there ? I 
press you to my heart, and give you my blessing. My wife sends her love. 

Give my greetings to the statue of Marcus Aurelius, and the lions under 
the Capitol, and my old Teatro di Marcello, and the Gulf of Naples, and 
— every thing. 

Yet again, God bless your journey to you. 

Your old Niebuhr. 
CCCXLIII. 

TO PERTHES. 

. Bonn, 29th January, 1827. 

You say, dear Perthes, that you stand toward the Catholics as 

east to north. You are quite right in so standing. But that is toward 
the Catholics as they were in the wholesome period of their depression, 
when the question was one of difference of opinion, and nothing further. 
But now all the old evils have awakened to full activity ; all the priestcraft, 
all, even the most gigantic plans for conquest and subjugation ; and there 
is no doubt that they are secretly aiming at and working toward a religious 
war, and all that tends to bring it on. Therefore, my dear friend, we 
must now be much on our guard, and look closely to it that we do not 
serve as tools to these people ; I thank God that he has removed Stolberg 
in time, for he would not have been a match for their artifices. Whoever 
lives in a Catholic part of Germany, must- remark that, with few excep- 
tions, the scholars, the citizens, &c, are what they are among ourselves, 
but that a curse of stupidity, of vulgarity, or both, seems to rest upon the 
clergy, and that the proselytizers, and warriors of the holy militia, are 
true children of the devil. 

CCCXLIV. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. . 

Bonn, 4th March, 1827. 

I have received a friendly letter from old Stein, in which he only 

contends that I was wrong in assuming that the oligarchy are secretly 
preparing to assert boundless pretensions ; on this point he allows himself 
to be imposed upon. From our King I have received a letter of thanks 
which will serve me as a shield, if the oligarchy should raise an outcry. 

Several persons in Paris have sent me friendly salutations and invita- 
tions to go there. I think of doing so in about two years, and still hope 
to make fresh discoveries of importance in the library 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 499 

CCCXLV. 

Bonn, 26th April, 1827. 

Your affectionate letter arrived here, dear Dora, during my absence. 
The machine had nearly come to a stand-still, and I felt the necessity of 
shaking it so strongly, that I no longer delayed availing myself of the fa- 
cilities afforded by the diligences on these excellent roads, but set off last 
Tuesday week to Coblentz and Treves, and reached home again last Sun- 
day. The direction of my journey was chosen, in fact, in order to induce 
Brandis to accompany me ; he needed motion and change still more than 
myself, and Treves was the first place he could decide upon going to. The 
old Roman city with its ruins, and the relics of antiquity discovered there, 
had long attracted me ; but I had not liked to go there without Gretchen 
and the children. I do not repent of having made this excursion ; the 
physical object seems fully attained ; I feel once more bright and active. 
I had got so absorbed in intricate inquiries, connected with my work, that 
I could not drive them out of my thoughts for a moment, and yet was un- 
able to take a comprehensive view of them. 

The road from Bonn to Coblentz, which I have now traveled many times, 
is so beautiful that one can never tire of it, and can delight in it even when 
the vegetation is still very backward, as it was wben I left home ; from 
Coblentz to Treves, the road crosses the hills which connect the Eifel with 
the Hiindsruck ranges, a tiresome road through a bleak and barren district, 
where even the woods are still without leaves. The situation of Treves it- 
* self is strikingly beautiful ; the ruins are very extensive, and highly inter- 
esting to the antiquary, as they afford an illustration of the great differ- 
ence that prevailed between the style of architecture in Rome and the prov- 
inces at the same period. There, as in nearly all parts of our Rhenish 
provinces, the prosperity is cheering ; handsome new houses are springing 
up in the city, and ro.ads are repairing which have been forsaken ever since 
the seventeenth century, and were only to be traced by the garden walls. 
On the other bank of. the river, cottage after cottage is built on the rock 
against the face of the magnificent hill ; so rich is the country becoming 
through the increased consumption of its wines, which were formerly little 
esteemed, and now find a sale in all districts of the kingdom. The inhab- 
itants are a lively and very friendly race. I have made myself quite popu- 
lar in this country ; I find myself received every where with the greatest 
kindness. One of our fellow-travelers in the diligence would not resign the 
office of my cicerone (he was a citizen) though some intelligent tutors at 
the Gymnasium were waiting to act as my guides. On our journey home, 
an inhabitant of Treves said, c: It was a blessing for Catholic Germany to 
have a Protestant government, so that the priests could not go on as they 
were doing in France. 

On my return, I set about a long-delayed work, the thorough arrange- 
ment of my papers, collecting and putting together those belonging to the 
various epochs of my life, which were still for the most part in confusion, 
separating those written at Berlin, at Rome, and since we have been here. 
It awakened many and very sad emotions. I had shrunk from these feel- 
ings, and therefore postponed the work ; now it is over. Notwithstanding 
the age which I have reached, I have won the power of looking forward, 
and feel still youthful in that respect. When I think of what I have lost 



500 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

irrevocably, it makes my heart beat, and brings the tears into my eyes ; I 
repress them. The great work of my life, so far as it has advanced, in- 
spires me with courage and firmness. I know that my life has not been 
spent in vain, that I can do more now than before my journey to Italy. I 
think seriously of visiting Italy again when Marcus has reached his twen- 
tieth year, and can delight myself in the idea like a child. 

A letter came from Goethe during my absence; an article that he has 
written for the next number of " Kunst und Alterthum," with a little ac- 
companying note, in which he calls it the passionate expression of his emo- 
tions in reading my book, which he imparts to the author, because " such 
a work may have the happiest effects in kindling and confirming our faith 
in truth and simplicity." Such words are worth much to me, and to .you 
also, dear Dora 

The following is the article referred to by Niebuhr : 

NIEBUHR'S ROMAN HISTOE.Y. 

It may appear presumptuous if I venture to state that I have read this 
important work through from beginning to end in a few days, evenings, 
and nights, and have a second time derived the greatest advantage from it. 
But this assertion of mine will be explained, and receive some credit, when 
I say at the same time that I had already devoted the greatest attention 
to the first edition, and had sought to make myself master of the facts, no 
less than of the method of this work. 

When we witness the want of true criticism in so many departments of 
learning, even in this enlightened century, we are rejoiced to have placed 
before our eyes a model which makes us comprehend what criticism really 
is. And if the orator must aver with threefold emphasis, that the begin- 
ning, middle, and end of his art, is to give a false color to all things, in 
this work, on the contrary, we perceive that the living, active love of truth 
has guided the writer through the labyrinth. He does not, properly speak- 
ing, proceed on his own former assertions ; he rather turns the same criti- 
cism against himself which he had formerly employed against ancient au- 
thors, and thus wins a double triumph for truth. For this is her glorious 
nature, that wherever she may appear, she opens our eyes and heart, and 
gives us courage to look around in the same manner on the fields in which 
we ourselves have to work, and to draw in the reviving breath of renewed 
faith. 

I honestly confess that many details may have escaped me in my hasty 
perusal, but I foresee that the high import of the whole will ever unfold it- 
self before me with deeper significance. 

Meanwhile, I have drawn from its perusal refreshment and encourage- 
ment. On the one hand, I can once more take genuine delight in every 
honest endeavor, and, on the other, while I do not exactly suffer myself to 
be irritated by the reigning errors and misapprehensions in science, partic- 
ularly the logical development of false premises, and the distortion of truth 
by covert fallacies, yet I can make war with a certain indignation on every 
species of obscurantism, which unhappily changes its mask with the pecul- 
iar characteristic of each individual, and diligently conceals with its man- 
ifold vails the pure ray of delight, and the fertility of truth, even from 
healthy eyes. 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 501 

The above has been lying since the 8th of February among many other 
Unfinished papers ; no use could be made of it, for it does not, properly 
speaking, say any thing about the book which called forth this burst of 
feeling; it only expresses with passionate force the condition of my heart 
and mind at that moment. Yet I now resolve, as I am about to send a 
little gift on my own part to the esteemed author of that work, to commu- 
nicate to him a copy of it, in confidence, for it may be of consequence to him 
to see what effect his peculiar labors have on the general mind ; the noblest 
effect, that while they impart knowledge, they also encourage and animate 
our faith in truth and simplicity. 
Weimar, tth April, 1827. 

This sheet was meant to accompany the last number of " Kunst und Al- 
terthum," but as the completion of that number has been delayed, it shall 
serve as its forerunner, and recommend me to your continued kind remem- 
brance. With faithful sympathy. Goethe. 

Weimar, 15th April, 1827. 

CCCXLVI. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Bonn, 29th April, 1827. 

Instead of myself you shall at all events have my work 

Now that so long a time has elapsed since the book saw the light, I can 
not write about it with the same warmth as on its first appearance ; the 
charm of novelty goes far even with what proceeds from our own hand, and 
we grow indifferent to the children of our mind, however dear to us, when 
we have emancipated them, and dismissed them from the parental home. 
Let it, therefore, speak for itself; you will come forward to meet it with 
kindness. A more affectionate reception my writings on Roman history 
can not find in my own family than from you ; there is only one thing 
which 1 fear with you, that your affection may cause you to regret that 
the imperfect work, which will be dearer to you from its origin in, and con- 
nection with that period in the life of both of us to which no other can 
ever approach, has been destroyed to make way for a more perfect produc- 
tion. It is possible that your tenderness for the work, which took its rise 
under the animating influence of your friendship, and the instruction I de- 
rived from your conversation, when my indolence and want of literary skill 
would have forever prevented my acquiring it from books, may have made 
you too indulgent to its defects, and given yoti a distaste to what announces 
itself as an improvement. I know this sort of affection which loves its ob- 
ject just as much in its relations and bearings as in itself, which deems 
the indistinct aspirations of youth toward something higher than we can 
perhaps ever attain, dearer than the proportion which a riper age main- 
tains between its powers and its aims : the new St. Paul's may be much 
more beautiful, and yet I may look upon the old structure with regret in 
spite of all its faults. I trust, however, you will believe that I could not 
help forming a different judgment, and not suffer regret to mingle with the 
conviction which you have doubtless formed, that the contents of the book 
have gained immensely in value ; that its principles are now immovably 
fixed for all ages. I do not hesitate to say, that the discovery of no ancient 



502 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

historian could have taught the world so much as my work ; and that all 
that may hereafter come to light from ancient and uncorrupted sources, 
will only tend to confirm or develop the principle I have advanced. This 
is the case with Dio Cassius, of whom I have discovered that he has cop- 
ied the earlier history directly from Fabius. How happy it would make 
me for you to read my book on the ruins of Rome, if your health and spirits 
allow you to do so. 

The revision of this volume has occupied me unremittingly for more than 
a year, nearly all of which I have passed in better spirits than I could ever 
have believed would fall to my lot, since my youth was over, which even 
in times of intense happiness was not strictly speaking cheerful. And as 
my wife enjoyed very tolerable health during the last summer and the be- 
ginning of the winter, we had passed a very happy period, something like 
that which I enjoyed in 1810 and 1811 

You will have heard of the edition of the Byzantine historians, which I 
am superintending. It is a great delight to me to be able thus to infuse 
some life into our literary doings ; to give employment to young philolo- 
gists ; to give extension, activity, and perfection to typography ; to contri- 
bute my mite to the increase of general prosperity 

When shall we meet again, my dear, dear friend ? I supplicate Heaven 
that you may be as completely regenerated after a year's sojourn in Italy 
as I was ; meanwhile, when you return to this side of the Alps, you must 
spare yourself and allow yourself recreation. To spare yourself, it will be 
necessary for you to take long holidays ; and you will best find recreation 
with the friend who is the nearest to you in all higher points of view, as you 
are to him. So, in 1828, you must spend more than a few passing days 
with us. 

I conjure you, as I have done for years, to tear yourself from all disturb- 
ing and irritating circumstances. I could fain entreat you to remove to 
our university, but in that case tell me beforehand that I may purchase 
houses, since the price of students' apartments would certainly rise 30 per 
cent. Or cast away all the burdens of official obligation, and settle among 
us, and deliver open lectures as I do, and then we shall both forget that we 
have grown older since 1810. If my wife were here she would unite her 
entreaties to mine, as well as her greetings to you and yours. I embrace 
you with tenderness, my beloved friend. God grant that you may soon 
recover completely, and that we may meet again. 

Your old Niebuhr. 

CCCXLVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

1st July, 1827. 
In the second volume the first half has been revised, and the period up 
to the decemviral legislation is entirely new. I have no lack of materials, 
indeed it is one of my finest achievements, that from the notices relating 
to these forty years, I have brought out a history worthy of full reliance, 
although it deviates essentially from the statements of our historians. But 
I have now quite lost the state of feeling in which I wrote the first volume ; 
the collectedness and quiet in which you can take a vivid survey of the re- 
sult of your meditations, and adapt your mode of representation to it. May 
it retain ! I have often lost and recovered this power; but at my age it 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 503 

will not do for me to be too long without it. I have lost too this summer 
that feeling of happiness and contentment which gave me last year such a 
thorough enjoyment of life as I had never hoped to regain. There are sev- 
eral external circumstances to trouble me. In the first place, Gretchen's 
health 

A very intelligent Englishman, who visited me a few weeks ago, looked 
forward to a very gloomy future for his country. There is a fearful and 
ever-widening gulf between the wealthy and the indigent classes ; they are 
two hostile nations; poor Ireland is indeed a nation by herself, and her 
sufferings such as perhaps never can be remedied. 

There is certainly great prosperity here, and were the government what 
it ought to be, our State would be rich in blessings. Wherever you look 
you see increasing comfort, and active enterprise crowned with success. 
The advantages of belonging to a great State are innumerable ; what a 
contrast to our condition is presented by the misery in Nassau, Darmstadt, 
Rhenish Bavaria. The people see clearly, and they say it too in the dis- 
trict of Mayence, that in small States representative forms have no effect 
but to increase expense. In those parts the people actually refuse to elect 
members. 

One book containing much nonsense but many correct statements of fact 
is Sidon's Letters on North America. If there are any who have not yet 
forgotten the childish hopes which some years ago provoked many even to 
insolence toward the more experienced, let them read in this book, from 
the pen of a man who fancies himself describing an enviable condition of 
society, the barbarism prevailing in the United States. It also presents a 
vivid picture of the Germans in North America. 

Have you the new edition of Goethe ? The Helena will leave a painful 
impression on your mind as on mine. How could Goethe hatch such a 
thing ? But among the smaller poems, which have never appeared before, 
to my knowledge, there are some very charming verses ; there are also 
some songs written in his golden youth, and printed now for the first time, 
or revived after having long slumbered in oblivion, for instance, the "Wan- 
derer's Storm Song 

CCCXLVIII. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Bonk, lith September, 1827. 

During this interval in which I have been incapable of nobler 

tasks, I have occupied myself with superintending a new edition of the 
Byzantine authors. Nothing can seem a madder enterprise than to an- 
nounce the undertaking of a new edition of this library of writings when I 
am midway in the execution of the Roman History, the business of my 
life ; but here too fortune has waited- upon valor. Volunteers are coming 
forward on every side, to range themselves under my banner, and take the 
parts that I shall assign to them. The greatest readiness is evinced to aid 
me with communications, and in particular from Holland and France I 
have received presents of copies, &c, which are sent to me with expressions 
of cordiality that I am not ashamed to call touching. I have myself cor- 
rected the text of Agathias ; several are undertaking to revise authors : 
copies of inedita, collections, come to me from all quarters : fcrvet opus ; 



504 MEMOIR, OF NIEBTJHB, 

the activity is splendid. It has hitherto occasioned me an enormous 
amount of work in bringing me into correspondences with all parts of the 
world. The most difficult part by far, nay, all the difficulties, except a few 
of little importance, are overcome, and I am now once more devoted to my 
history. Is it not a great thing that a publisher and a philosopher should 
be able to accomplish in six years from hence at furthest, a work that was 
but partially carried out in sixty years under the auspices and with the 
munificent aid of Louis XIV. ? But as to the practicability of the scheme, 
thereby hangs a tale which is not altogether a subject of satisfaction. You 
must know there is now springing up in Germany a class who buy great 
books without intending to read them. For a long time we were too honest 
to do this, and hence, after the devil, in God's service, had jut an end to 
the convents, which formerly used to buy ponderous works, and lay them 
on their shelves, to lead a useless existence like those monks themselves — 
works of this magnitude could not be disposed of. At present, new books, 
which are only bought by readers, meet with ill success, except Scottiand 
and Claurenciana. Collections, on the contrary, are sure of purchasers. 
The petite maitresse buys the complete works of Van der Velde, &c, the 
rich man, my Byzantine Historians, &c. 

The Museum has been parted in two ; Brandis and I have kept the phi- 
lological part alone. If you have any thing to communicate, send it to us, 
even if it should belong to the province of jurisprudence. Between us it is 
almost ludicrous to mention the fee, two Eriedrich d'ors. 

Your old Niebuhr. 

CCCXLIX. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 4lh November, 1827. 

Since I last wrote to you, dear Dora, some time has passed like the sum- 
mer, in a whirl of bustle through the visits of travelers ; it seems to have 
come to an end now, at least, for the present 

I beg you will let me know of all the passages which you and Twesten 
have marked as wanting in clearness of conception or style ; it will be a 
real service. On one account I am sorry that the new edition is appear- 
ing so early ; the English translation will be injured by it. I have received 
nine proof sheets of this ; and it is more successful than I could ever have 
ventured to hope for. It is all that I could wish : the apprehension and 
the reproduction of my meaning are alike vivid : nothing has been sacri- 
ficed to the language and national taste ; every shade of the German 
thought has been preserved, without violating the English language. The 
outward dress is very handsome ; this is an honor accorded to the work by 
the University of Cambridge. I am assured on all sides that it will be 
well received ; not a few copies of the German edition have been sold in 
England, and the work has also made some political sensation 

CCCL. 

Bonn, 2d December, 1827. 
I must see how I get through the winter. The printing of the new 
edition of the first part is proceeding rapidly : the emendations affect no 
main points, although they are not unimportant ; still they involve labor 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 505 

and meditation ; and correcting the press takes up a good deal of time. I 
have, besides, to correct the press for the edition of Agathias which I have 
prepared myself. It is my intention to have the printing of the second 
volume finished before setting out on our journey, but I am sorry to say, 
I have not yet advanced far enough with the manuscript to feel sure that 
I shall be able to accomplish this. Unfortunately, the period up to the 
Decemvirate was the most difficult portion of the whole work,- and I had 
not thought this out beforehand in my own head as I had the fundamental 
institutions of the State. I have at last made it perfectly clear to myself, 
but the style is still languid and dry. This list, however, by no means in- 
cludes all the tasks to the execution of which I am either pledged or chal- 
lenged in such a way that I can not decline them ; not to speak of the 
lectures, which seldom require more than a preliminary meditation, and 
arrangement of my topics. I long for the holidays of next summer, which, 
however, I shall not be able to spend quite in idleness. I promised Bek- 
ker to revise Polybius with him, sooner or later. Now I can not put this 
off any longer with propriety, since the Excerpts from the Vatican have 
appeared, and as I mean to devote to it my solitude at the Baths of Nurn- 
dorf, and a few hours in Holstein. Next whiter I hope to proceed with 
fresh vigor to the revision of the third volume, and afterward to the con- 
tinuation. 

Heaven grant that I may make at least some considerable advance to- 
ward the later periods even if I do not reach the goal I have fixed for my- 
self, before all youthful fire is quite extinguished in me. and the tranquillity 
is broken in which we can now work ! The completion of the work is 
scarcely to be expected, though from the fourth volume onward, the labor 
will be incomparably less ; for but little research is required after that period, 
and I am so familiar with the events, that except a very few corrections 
from memory, I could relate them as if I had been an eye-witness. So 
that in this part of my work, the main thing will be, to secure a bright 
mood for the sake of the style. 

It is very improbable that the repose which we have now enjoyed in 
these western countries for the last twelve years will be long preserved to 
us. It is evident that a breach has been made in the wall of the edifice, 
how long its fall will be delayed depends upon accident. Who can wish 
that this or that event should happen ? We have all, of course, rejoiced 
over the battle of Navarino ; you in Holstein, as well as we in Bonn : but 
it is the joy of revenge, for it has not alleviated past calamities. The 
opportunity of rescuing what was still left in the Morea has been lost, 
partly owing to Pharisaic scrupulosity, partly owing to Canning's delays 
on the score of the treaty. To us, who are in her neighborhood, France 
is even more interesting than to those at a distance. If the liberals had 
conquered in the elections, the choice would have lain between a violent 
counter-revolution, or a liberal ministry. I believe that the court could 
have carried the former through. But such a victory would have been a 
very bad thing for Catholic districts like ours, where the clergy, encouraged 
by irrational partisans, are continually advancing in then pretensions. On 
the other hand, a liberal administration would have still Avorse consequences 
for us ; the journals were already talking about the " disgraceful limitation 
of Prance by boundaries which were not her natural ones." They all 
secretly cherish the idea of breaking out, and extending their sway to the 
Y 



506 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Rhine ; and on this point aristocrats and liberals would unite willingly in 
the end. Bunsen has arrived in Berlin, and writes that he shall begin his 
journey back to Rome by way of Bonn, about the middle of this month. 
Savigny's letters are very gloomy ; he is still suffering as much as ever. 
From another quarter I hear that his approbation of the Roman History is 
undiminished. 

The course of lectures that I am delivering this winter can attract none 
but lovers of knowledge — or those who wish to be such. It is on Ancient 
Geography and Ethnography. Still above eighty have inscribed their 
names, and I should think there are as many present. 

CCCLI. 

Bonn, 30^ December, 1827. 

Gretchen's severe illness has brought great commotion and affliction into 
the whole household 

The unintelligible sentence that I sent you a short time since about 
politics in France, means this : if the liberals carry the day, the French 
will forthwith overstep their frontiers ; and further, every coalition which 
may overthrow the ministry, without adopting an entirely different political 
system, will also take this course, in order to appease the nation for leav- 
ing other things on their present footing. But if the priestly party get the 
upper hand uncontrolled, which would be quite the most probable result 
of Villele's fall, the prevalent spirit will be that of the League — that 
which heralded in the Thirty Years' War, a spirit which is now cherished 
and promoted by many Catholics. 

The irrational precipitation of the French priests may, perhaps, spoil 
their game; it has already alienated from them the higher ranks, who 
were long favorable to their cause ; the middle classes are almost entirely 
against them ; in many provinces a great portion of the common people 
also : but in others, indeed in many, they completely sway the multitude. 
For this very reason, many of the nobility regard them as democratic, in 
fact, Jacobinical ; and not unjustly. 

It is the most senseless proceeding in the world, to aim at Villele's 
overthrow, since the King, if he alters the ministry, will throw himself 
quite into the hands of the priests. Some individuals among the liberals 
perceive this, as did one who was here a few months ago ; but in general 
the French party-men are incurably irrational. 

Farewell, dearest Dora. Gretchen and the children send their love to 
you. 

CCCL1I. 

Bonn, 14th March, 1828. 

I do not know what to think of the East. Nothing hardly can 

be saved, and they will fight among themselves for the possession of the 
soil. Woe to those who did nothing in 1821 ! I abhor those who defend 
and justify the Turks, and yet I tremble at the consequences of the war. 
There are periods in which something much better than happiness and 
security of life is attainable, but I fear that is not the case in our present 
age. England's rapidly accelerating decline is a very remarkable and 
mournful phenomenon ; it is a mortal sickness for which there is no rem- 
edy. I liken the English of the present day to the Romans of the third 
century after Christ. The course of things in France is quite contrary to 



RESIDENCE IN BONN 507 

my expectations. It is possible that the Left may create disturbances 
again, if the new elections render them independent of that fraction of the 
Eight led by Agier ; but it is also possible that new parties may be formed, 
as was the case in England under the House of Hanover, which may really 
keep themselves within constitutional limits. If so, France will become 
conscious of her power, and woe to poor, divided, decaying Germany ! 

Portalis appeared to be a respectable man at Rome ; but I should never 
have expected to see him a Minister of State. However, I sent him my 
sincere congratulations a short time ago ; and a few days after, expressed 
to some other good friends of mine, my regret at his retirement from office. 

I have bought lately, at auctions, the original edition of Woldemar 
(1779), and the ELunstgarten ; * it is very interesting to compare both 
with the later editions. Both has added an extraordinarily beautiful pas- 
sage as an appendix to the latest edition of the works, on the fruitlessness 
of the efforts of good men, where the evil principle has the upper hand. 
Further, it is very remarkable to see how Jacobi shared the optimistic 
hopes so general in 1779 ; and to notice, when he renounced them subse- 
quently, the turn which he gave to what he had said on the subject. 

cecLin. 

Bonn, 20tk April, 1828. 

I form no conjectures as to what may happen; do not know whether 
the peace of Germany is immediately threatened or not ; no one writes to 
me about such things, and I generally banish them almost wholly from 
my mind. But sooner or later, a war is impending over us in Germany 
as surely as over other countries. A war in which one can not heartily 
espouse either side for the sake of an idea, but only so far as it affects our 
own weal or woe — a war whose issue must be in every way most lament- 
able. The cause of the unhappy Greeks, and the paradise which might 
have been redeemed from barbarism, is no longer in reality the question, 
since we have allowed them to be almost exterminated; and new con- 
quests for Russia are a mournful business ! Woe to those who did not 
perceive seven years ago, and did not choose to perceive, that they ought 
to take advantage of the Emperor Alexander's yielding temper, to found 
a new Christian empire in the East, without extending neighboring powers : 
who did not see that such a State would be a much stronger bulwark 
against Russia than these miserable Turks ! As regards Prussia there is 
no fear that we shall incur the shame of drawing our sword for the Turks. 

I should have many good hopes for France, if the election had not called 
such utterly irrational and extreme liberals into the position of leaders, 
that it must come to bending or breaking between the Throne and the 
Chambers. It is sad that people always insist on extreme men, while by 
far the greater number of those who exercise a vote would gain their real 
aini3 much better, by means of sensible people. Very few now seriously wish 
for any thing essentially bad or dangerous — the case was quite different 
even so late as five or seven years ago — but it is very easy to impel the 
majority of the Assembly to extremely senseless and alarming steps, and 
this may provoke the court to a coup-cfetat. If they had suspended the 
constitution a year ago, they would have been playing a hazardous game, 
but it might have succeeded had they acted consistently — for instance, 
* Another novel by Jacobi. 



508 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

decidedly abolished the freedom of the press. There would have been no 
danger unless a regiment rebelled, and that was highly improbable. Now, 
the experiment would be incomparably more hazardous, and yet the ex- 
■^ravagancies of the liberals may cause it to be tried, though very few of 
them desire a revolution. 

Have I then really forgotten to tell you that I agreed with one of the 
booksellers here, a year ago, to collect my smaller writings ? I am glad 
that you approve of it. The political ones will be excluded ; they may be 
revived again after my death : also the polemical ones, which need not be 
preserved at all. One must be able to contend upon occasion, but con- 
troversy should evaporate like a spoken word. It is thus with the orators 
in the free states, it should be thus in the republic of letters. Neither 
shall the review of Heeren be reprinted. Have I told you, then, that I 
have received copies of the English translation of the History ? It is not 
absolutely free from faults ; with respect to which, it is singular that they 
do not occur in really difficult passages, but in perfectly clear ones, so that 
they can only have arisen from inattention : but these are trifles ; on the 
whole the work is masterly, and a perfectly genuine representation of the 
original. Then, too, it has such a beautiful exterior. The language is 
changing ; many expressions in this translation, and in other examples of 
the higher literature, are quite new and unprecedented. 

The English pay so much attention now to the literature of the Conti- 
nent, that two rival foreign reviews appear at once, and compete with 
each other. In one of them there is a review of my History, as friendly, 
but not as discerning as I could wish. Were my old affection for England 
unchanged, it would give me intense pleasure to stand in such high esti- 
mation there. My principles, which I announce with the most absolute 
conviction of their truth, are adopted there without reservation, and will 
take root too firmly to be extirpated. But my heart has become estranged 
from England ; the period of her glory has passed away ; and the shame- 
fulness with which not alone the ministry, but the nation side with the 
Turks, the unscrupulous practice of usury, and the exclusive idolatry of 
gain disgust me ; and the whole moral condition of the nation is degener- 
ating, although, to a great extent, this is as much its misfortune as its 
fault. I could fain be younger that I might witness the issue of many 
things : for instance, with regard to England, whither it will lead, that 
year by year so many thousands of starving Irish come over, and augment 
the number of paupers, and that the middle class, between wealth and 
abject poverty, is becoming quite extinct. 

Yesterday I finished the correction of the third edition. It has received 
an extension of forty pages, through the addition of a number of results and 
corroborative facts scattered over the whole ; I have taken pains also to 
remove whatever instances I found of obscurity or ambiguity. As this is 
now certainly the last revision to which reference can be made in the 
second volume, and as 1000 copies have again been printed, I am certain 
of five years' rest from it. There is to be a larger impression of the second 
volume, the editing of which will occupy me during the winter. God grant 
that I may be able to work at it with a cheerful mind ! With the Byzan- 
tines I shall really have no more trouble by that time : I am upon the 
point of finishing the last piece of work connected with them that falls to 
my share — it is, I think, a successful attempt. Henceforward I shall 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 509 

merely have to distribute the parts : I reckon much on Marcus's tutor, 
Classen, who is daily becoming more attached to us, and is a genuine dis- 
ciple after my own heart. 

CCCLIV. 

TO MADAME NIEBUHR. 

Nxjrndorf, 6th June, 1828. 

You may be perfectly easy about me ; the intolerable dullness of the ex- 
istence here involves no dangers, though it really exceeds all conception. 
The background of my thoughts is the separation from you, and that is in 
itself enough to drive such a social being as myself to despair. I already 
know every path in the promenades and wood, and every road in the 
neighborhood. I am incapable of reflection and study, and promise you not 
to attempt it. It is quite too great an exertion even to read Rehberg's 
writings, which mostly treat of speculative philosophy. It has come to 
this with me, that I have sent for a novel by Cooper, the American Walter 
Scott — (N.B. — Translated!) — from the circulating library, in the so-called 
bookseller's shop here. 

Ptehberg's collected writings incontestably belong to the most important 
works in our language. The composition of this volume — the weaving of 
minor essays and papers of a philosophical description, in the narrow and 
wider sense of the word, into an account of his views and external rela- 
tions, during the period in Germany up to 1804 (the period of his youth), 
is a most original and happy idea, and it is executed in a masterly style. 
The perspicuity and accuracy with which he describes the connecting and 
mediating parties is particularly admirable. This will form an introduc- 
tion to many portions that will find their place in the succeeding volumes. 
Our respective paths are quite divergent : he is as essentially speculative 
as I am contemplative and individualizing ; over many speculations of 
most brilliant acuteness I can only smile as the most unimportant thing in 
the world ; still, thank God, I can admire what it is not permitted me to do. 
His historical surveys do not correspond to the truth, and contain as many 
errors as principles. Our judgment of Diderot is equally dissimilar; the 
strictly poetical element is also, I fancy, a foreign region to him. I should 
care almost more to know him personally and discuss matters with him, 
than to know Goethe 

CCCLV. 

Nurndorf, Monday, 16th June, 1828. 
Since Friday the weather has changed. Pertz and Hartman came to 
call on me ; and after they had continued their journey at six o'clock in 
the evening. I could not make up my mind to come in from the open air, it 
was so heavenly. Not a breath was stirring, and there was not a trace of 
clouds in the whole expanse of sky ; but the air was laden with the aromat- 
ic perfume of the white acacia and wild jessamine. The honeysuckle is 
out of bloom. It was the first gala Sunday, the first day on which there 
was dancing. I wandered about in the avenues, turned into the ball-room 
from time to time, and then took more distant field-paths : I could not re- 
solve to go in till the sun had set for the third time into a purple glow. 
Then I wanted to begin a letter to vou, my beloved Gretchen ; but I was too 



510 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

weary, and soon comforted myself with the reflection that to-day, hefore 
post-time, I should have taken thirteen of my baths ! 

I can give you a very good account of myself. Pertz found me yester- 
day much altered for the better during the eight days that have elapsed. 
The day before yesterday I found and plucked the first beautiful forget-me- 
not ; I wanted to send them to you to-day, but they are not dry enough 

yet 

CCCLVI. 

Copenhagen, l$tk July, 1828- 

"We arrived here yesterday after as good a passage as possible, my dear 
wife. Touchhammer and Michelsen were at the landing-place, and helped 
in the difficulties of disembarkation, getting on shore, &c 

The empty harbor, the deserted Holm, made a painful impression on me ; 
Marcus compared the eagerness of the porters who seized upon the luggage, 
with Naples ; and certainly the urgency of the beggars reminds you of the 
worst scenes of the kind in Italy. On the other hand, the cutting wind here 
makes you feel that you are in an Arctic climate ; one perceives a great 
difference even in comparing it with Kiel ; you would fancy Copenhagen as 
much north of Kiel, as Kiel is in truth and perceptibly, north of Bonn. 
The eastern part of the city is so still, that it reminds me of the fairy tale 
where the people are all spell-bound to one point for ages. From the Zoll- 
bude to the Neumarkt, every thing looks exactly as if I had only left it 
yesterday, only gone to decay a little here and there. Christiansburg, on 
the contrary, far exceeds my expectation. The Frauen-Kirche, which has 
been restored, looks better, too, than I had supposed it would. The parts 
left uninjured in the northern and western parts of the city, have, I think, 
improved in appearance. 

Schimmelman is at Seelust ; and they say at his house that he will be 
sure to be found there to-morrow, so I shall go there if I receive no express 
message to the contrary 

Later. I went to Seelust on Sunday. Schimmelman is quite infirm 
with age.* and the warmth of his heart seems to be extinguished as well 
as the light of his intellect. He seems, too, only to retain old circum- 
stances in his memory, and although he knows the positions which I have 
occupied, to look upon me still as his old dependent. He knew nothing of 
my Roman History, though I had sent him a copy of my first edition, which 
proves how much his memory has suffered. 

Most of those whom I meet here are very cordial and kind. I think I 
never spoke Danish so well — I am still received as a fellow-countryman 
every where. 

CCCLVII. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Bonn, 28lh November, 1828. 
With this you will receive your copy of my smaller writings, dear Savigny. 
I have on all sides the most cheering accounts of your health. Thank 
God ! I am not one to doubt what I earnestly wish for, because I am abso- 
lutely unable to conceive the possibility of homceopathy. If I were told 

* He was at this time eighty-one years of age. He had, moreover, never 
quite forgiven Niebuhr for exchanging the Danish for the Prussian service. 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 511 

you had been cured by an amulet, I should not fret myself about the dan- 
ger of superstition, but thank God that you had recovered by whatever 
means. Arndt will have told you about us. So far my wife has been 
tolerably well ; my complaint has returned, but is bearable. I sit at my 
writing, but it does not flow yet. Is my day gone by ? or will my intel- 
lect brighten again ? Our life gets more and more secluded and quiet, as 
the people come to see that I am really in earnest in retiring from the 
great world, and can no longer either help or injure them. I am, however, 
perfectly contented with the idea of living here, and I hope to remain faith- 
ful to the wisdom I have earned, and to take life easily. I hear to my 
great joy that you are doing so, too, and are writing. The Leipsic cat- 
alogue confirms what I had already heard, that a new edition of your 
" Beruf," * with additions, has appeared. What do you say to Hehberg's 
writings ? Is not the framework which fastens the whole together, a 
master-piece ? I am lecturing on Homan History ; this time, my lectures 
do not consist of analyses and researches, but results, and sound as if an 
ancient author had been discovered, whose writings yielded precisely all 
that I wanted to bring forward. I hope to bring the History quite to a 
conclusion. If I should ever see you, I hope to hear from you that you 
have received my new editions as favorably as the first bold attempt. 

Farewell, my dearest friend, my wife and I send our hearty love to you 
and yours. Your Niebuhr. 

In England, the first edition of the translation, consisting of a thousand 
copies, is already out of print, and my translators are about to translate 
my third edition. In England, my results triumph without opposition. 

CCCLVIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, January, 1829. 

In Holstein, too, I have often been vexed when whatever the 

government did was censured. The people have no filial piety and no 
father-land. The true citizen loves his country so well, that he can not 
revile, or scoff at those who are at the helm of affairs, even when they 
guide it unskillfully — so well that even if those with whom he is at enmity 
come into power, he is reconciled to them by the fact of their standing in 
so close a relation with the State which is sacred to him, and being ha 
some measure identified with it. 

I expect to conclude the revision of the second volume within the next 
few days ; the printing will begin in about three weeks. This volume will 
be necessarily very dry ; the third quite the opposite. I wonder if it will 
have a good sale. A very large number of works are stopped because they 
do not sell. Itehberg's publisher will not continue the printing of his works. 
I have been requested to write a review of them, but can not do so without 
expressing my disapprobation of his rancorous speeches about Goethe ; and 
also of his having thought it sufficient reparation to insert in his preface 
an apology for his former attacks upon Prussia, while he allows writings 
to be reprinted "containing what" he "would not write now." If he 
will consent to this, I shall joyfully recognize their many excellencies. 
But it is very lamentable that authors of whom we ought to be proud 
should be thus neglected. 

* Beruf unseres Zeitalters zur Gesetzgebung. 



512 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

In these last few days, I have heen reminded very forcibly how much 
beautiful poetry came out thirty years ago or more (particularly the poems 
of Voss and Stolberg), of which we hear no more now — which is, indeed, 
quite forgotten 

CCCLIX. 

Bonn, 12th February, 1829. 

The passages in my History, referring to the Irish Catholics 

have made me to some extent a political authority in England, and I am 
quoted with favor or bitterness, but for the most part with favor. On this 
account I have been requested, by a member of parliament, to write my 
opinions on the subject. Formerly. 1 should have responded to the request 
with eagerness, but my old love for England is very much cooled. Per- 
sonally, I have no reason to feel estranged from the nation ; from none do 
I receive so many proofs of esteem — sometimes of a very odd kind. 

The contract for the purchase of the house was signed the day before 
yesterday. It is a great disadvantage for us that the severity of the winter 
will hinder its completion ; still the main building will be quite habitable 
by the middle of May 

CCCLX. 

Bonn, 26th April, 1829. 

In the house which we are about to leave, I have spent more happy 
days than have been awarded to me for many years ; just at present I 
feel rather depressed.* If I could make up my mind to leave Gretchen 
and the children for some months, and to spend so much money upon my- 
self, a journey to London or Paris would afford me the refreshment I need. 

[Our new house] is really such a pleasant and comfortable dwelling that 
it leaves nothing to wish for 

Under other circumstances I should set about the change in excellent 
spirits. I hope that it will deceive the Pate which seems to have decreed 
that I shall never live more than seven years in one place. I have often 
remembered with a heavy heart, that in August I shall have passed six 
years here already. A summons to Berlin has been long out of the ques- 
tion 

Read by all means Goethe's Correspondence with Schiller. In the third 
part, you will again find some of the most pleasing passages that have 
ever proceeded from Goethe's pen, and which show his personal character 
in as fair a light as one could wish. More of this hereafter. The contrast 
between him and Herder is very remarkable, as well as his indignation at 
the latter for never taking hearty pleasure in any thing, but always trying 
to limit and modify his praises, that they might not be joyful. Nothing 
is easier than to do this, and to show that even the production in question 
is not faultless; he who rejoices in it knows this too ; Goethe knew it too, 
where Herder's superciliousness stepped forth with such a wise air. But 
he also knew, that without the joyful satisfaction which lets well alone, 
we should have a miserable existence in this world. Such passages alone 
would make this letter a jewel to me. 

* Tbe first part of the letter gives an account of Madame Niebuhr's dangerous 
illness. 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 513 

CCCLXI. 

Bonn, 14th June, 1829. 

You have probably seen in the newspapers that my English translators 
have been defending me against an attack in the "Quarterly Review." 
I have received some copies of their article, and will send you one when 
I have an opportunity. A certain Dr. Granville had mentioned in his 
Travels to St. Petersburg by way of Berlin, that I had remodeled my book 
into an entirely new work, adding, that a decisive influence on the rebellious 
disposition of the students was attributed to my earlier work. It is ex- 
tremely likely that this was suggested to him by H. C. The " Quarterly 
Review" has taken this up, and accompanied it with a note, in which it 
pronounces it a crime, that clergymen of the Church of England should 
have translated a book containing the most disgusting scoffs at religion 
that have been written since Voltaire's time ; they ought at least to have 
appended remarks in refutation. But, perhaps, they thought it unneces- 
sary, because it must be allowed that my scoffs were " as dull as pert." 
Upon this, they have been obliged to answer for themselves, since their 
prospects of patronage and promotion in the Church were endangered, as 
I foresaw would be the case ; for it makes the Anglican hypocrites furious, 
that the historical character of the Jewish history should be contemplated 
in its true light. The defense is written in a most affectionate spirit as 
regards myself, and for the sake of this affection, you will pardon the 
prolixity which other readers will set down to my account, as well as to 
that of the English writers. Further, with many readers, then: extreme 
veneration will inevitably produce a reaction. 

I enjoy uninterrupted health, but am not in an energetic state of mind, 
and it is with great toil that I have dragged myself through the second 
volume so far that I can now see land, and look forward to the printing. 

Let me recommend a book to you, dear Dora, if you have not yet read 
it, which I. pronounce excellent ; Ranke's History of the Servian Revolution. 
There is no other historical work in our language, in which the materials 
obtained from oral accounts are so satisfactorily and luminously treated : 
the events take place — it is not the author who relates, and we give him 
our unconditional credence. Ranke has given himself such elaborate mental 
cultivation, that he is certain to remain an excellent writer. Count Platen's 
" Romantischer (Edipus," I should rank far below the " Verhangniss voile 
Gabel," even if the passages, written in a spirit of animosity to Berlin, 
did not extend themselves to the whole of Prussia, and if they had been 
expiated by apology, as they have been with regard to Berlin itself. Still 
there are some clever things in it. If you happen to meet with Travels in 
the United States, by Duden (printed at Elberfeldt), do not forget to read 
it ; it is the best and most instructive book of the kind. What he says of 
the Germans there, and of the evil consequences of their persisting in a bar- 
barous separation from English culture, may remind you of what I have 
said, when I was with you, on this subject. I think you did not perceive 
that I was right, but were not angry with me for my opinion, as has often 
been the case in other instances. 

You must read Bourrienne's Memoirs when you can get them. I look 
at things of this kind more particularly on account of my lectures ;* they 
* The lectures on the French Revolution. 
Y * 



514 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

excite undiminished interest, and my lecture-room is crowded to suffoca- 
tion. I dwelt long in exhibiting the development of the various events of 
the eighteenth century, and the condition of Europe before the Revolution. 
The first five lectures were attended by a French eccleciastic, a tutor of 
the Duke of Bordeaux, who is perfectly acquainted with German, and to 
all appearance, is traveling as an emissary of the priestly party. There 
may be some more birds of this feather ; but no one shall be able to lay 
any thing to my charge, unless he puts forth downright lies and fabrica- 
tions. The aspect of the political world is very threatening : the appear- 
ance of the emperor at Berlin, reminds one alarmingly of 1805. Else, on 
the whole, things look much better now in Germany than they did some 
years ago. An immense change has taken place in the feeling toward 
Prussia; not, indeed, in Hanover, but in the whole Southern and Central 
Germany ; in Saxony likewise, to an incredible extent. The Zollverein 
with Darmstadt has begun ; the treaties with South Germany will com- 
plete it. 

CCCLXII. 

Bonn, 20th June, 1829. 
Torrents of foreigners are pouring along our river-highway, but happily 
very few come near me ; a reputation for inaccessibility protects me. Pro- 
fessor Wunder from Grimma has arrived to-day, and will spend the even- 
ing with us. We had lately an agreeable' visitor in a certain Chevalier 
Andraym, Spanish embassador at Brussels, a frank and intelligent man, 
whose conversation afforded, what is to me about the greatest attraction 
with strangers, information about public events, bearing the unmistak- 
able stamp of accuracy. It had an extraordinary effect, to hear a Spaniard 
relating with indignation anecdotes of the bigotry in Brabant. With us, 
this spirit only displays itself in insignificant instances as yet, but it cer- 
tainly ought to be watched. As we hear, it manifests itself in Saxony in 
a really insane manner. Many Saxons are almost in despair about it, and 
people who have been hitherto my bitter enemies, ever since the Congress 
of Vienna, are now rather disposed to obtrude their complaints upon me. 
It is very remarkable how the perception is spreading, that the small States 
are an evil now ; great advantage might be taken of this to the promotion 
of the true welfare of Germany, but it will not be done. In these Rhenish 
provinces, the beneficial results which Darmstadt has experienced from 
its union with us have produced a crisis. Far as we are from perfection, 
our condition is in every respect undeniably superior to that of the neigh- 
boring German countries : all classes are full of activity and enterprise, 
and both town and country are flourishing. Foreigners, who are best able 
to learn the real sentiments of the inhabitants, assure me, that they now 
find in general great contentment even here, where formerly the feeling of 
estrangement toward the new rulers was so strong. One must not, in- 
deed, look too far forward into the future, for there is reason to fear that 
the immense manufacturing population on the Lower Rhine wilHalso ex- 
perience their share of bad times, and when these have come, no lasting 
remedy can be found. 

I send you the "Vindication,"* dear Dora, and at last a copy 

of the " Kleine Schriften" t also, for yourself, as well -as for Twesten and 

* " Vindication of Niebuhr," by Hare and Thirlwall. 
t His own " Minor Writings." 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 515 

Dahlman. Have I told you that this collection is prohibited in Austria ? 
On the other hand, I am assured that a larger number of copies have been 
ordered in France than of any learned German work before. However, a 
hostile review of my History has appeared there also. It will stand firmly 
enough nevertheless ; but the way in which people make use of it in Ger- 
many to fabricate apparently original works, is almost ridiculous. 

I should lead a very pleasant life, if my head were brighter, and Gret- 
chen's state more encouraging. 

CCCLXIII. 

Bonn, Qtk September. 

I confidently hope that your apprehensions about your fate in 

Holstein are groundless. Hanover is a pledge that England will scarcely 
involve herself in a war — and a war, however successful, could bring no 
positive gain to her, although the nation in its universal uneasiness de- 
sires it. This is the general opinion in all the great money markets, and 
my own, which keeps me easy. So I hope we may be able to hobble on 
for some time longer. England can not wish to involve Prussia in a war 
with France, because an attempt on the part of the latter to press forward 
to the Rhine, would break up the Netherlands, whose existence is univers- 
ally considered by the English indispensable to their interests. That the 
French, and now, more especially, the so-called royalist party, harbor the 
idea of reconquering the Rhine frontier, is by no means doubtful to us in 
these parts, nor yet a secret. Even in this university, there are persons 
well known to be in communication with the priests hi France, who are 
seeking to excite rebellion against the heretical government ; attempts which 
would be simply laughable, if it were not for the unsatisfactory aspect of 
things in Belgium. It is not without an object that the Duke of Bor- 
deaux is learning German. We have no reason to complain of the liberals ; 
that is, of the native ones ; and altogether I am without fear, as the peo- 
ple see more clearly every day that they are very well off under the German 
government, and contrast their prosperity and light burdens not only with 
the Netherlands, but also with France, where at present both agriculture 
and manufactures are in a very bad state as compared with ours. 

In about a week, I shall make an excursion to Mayence, to visit an old 
friend, General Von Carlowitz. This change is really necessary for me, 
and while I should have been obliged to consent to the journey in order not 
to hurt an old friend, I take it for my own pleasure also, as well as from 
the feeling that I could not do without it ; traveling always does me good. 
The world is going to sleep ; not that there is any lack of exciting occur- 
rences, but they leave men passive ; the indifference and lethargy which 
have diffused themselves since I returned from Italy are shocking : I must 
make some effort not to be overcome by this universal somnolency 

CCCLXIV. 

Bonn, Z7th September, 1829. 

Besides my good old friend General Von Carlowitz, there is also 

in Mayence one of my hearers, who is very much attached to me, and is 
now staying there in the house of his parents. There is always a class 
among the students who can not do too much for their tutors, and they 
reward one for one's pains. To the Rhinelanders and Catholics, what they 



516 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

hear from me is quite new ; if they lay it to heart, one essential element 
of their real reunion with Germany, and reconciliation to Protestantism 
will be gained. For every thing good must proceed from individuals in 
whom the right spirit has been awakened. The opposite party are working 
might and main to widen the breach. The Catholic faction in France are 
just as much bent upon the conquest of Belgium and the Rhenish prov- 
inces, as the Imperial party. Toward the end of my lectures, induced by 
the complaints made by young Protestants of the attempts to stir up sedi- 
tion among them, I publicly attacked this treasonable spirit, and pro- 
nounced a woe upon those who, instead of promoting the union of the Ger- 
man races, are actively endeavoring to make then differences a source of 
hatred and division ; I have exclaimed to them, " Get thee behind me, 
Satan !' ; and thus put an end to hypocritical complaisance, and openly pro- 
claimed hostilities ; but it would have been cowardice to have avoided it. 
Fearlessness makes a very good impression on the higher class of minds 
among the young Catholics 

In spite of the miserable weather, there was never perhaps so much trav- 
eling on the Rhine as there has been this summer. At the end of the 
season, I had a visit from a Parisian litterateur, a M. St. Hilaire, belonging 
to the romantic school, who take it for granted that we Germans are par- 
ticularly delighted with their productions, and ought to be thankful to them 
for having thrown off the old French classic style ; which is, however, im- 
possible, since their performances turn out so extremely trivial, and they 
give up precisely that which constitutes the peculiar excellence of the 
French literature (wit and subtlety), to hunt after that for which neither 
they nor their language have any aptitude. Wisdom and modesty would 
lead us to rejoice in what another can do, without forthwith coveting to do 
the same thing ourselves ; it is moreover because a contrary course, or else 
a depreciation of foreign performances, is the most usual one, that an 
acquaintance with foreign literature does so much injnry, and cripples tal- 
ent. I say to the French, " Once for all, you will never have a Goethe, 
but delight yourselves in him ; we shall never have a Voltaire nor a Be- 
ranger, but I take pleasure in them ;" (do you know his for the most part 
seditious and sometimes wanton, but still genial "Chansons?") I hear 
that a faithful translation of Othello (in Alexandrines indeed) is just going 
to be performed at the Theatre Francais. Now this is a good thing; — but 
my literary friend means to bring a tragedy on the stage in which an angel 
appears to King Alphonso, and consoles him for the murder of a Jewish 
mistress, and that will be ridiculous. 

The older, really liberal, literati regard this school with very unfriendly 
feelings, for in politics it professes the liberal creed, but by its Fi/omanti- 
cism with respect to faith, places itself pretty much at the mercy of the 
Church. For the rest, it seems certain, that the priests do themselves in- 
finite injury by their extravagant pretensions, and that the number of their 
opponents increases. According to St. Hilaire's account, the appointment 
of the present unfortunate ministry is explained by the report, that the 
clergy refused the eucharist to the King except on this condition. 

The peace will not be very fruitful in good results ; infinite misery for 
the poor countries that were the seat of war, unredeemed by any prospects 
of a brighter future. Still I am glad of it, because our provinces will be 
spared the sufferings of war for the present, which would not have led, in 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 517 

the long run, to any thing better. When one is getting old, it is perhaps 
wisest to wish that outward things may remain, on the whole, as they are. 

One of the leaders of the English radicals has sent me a clever pamphlet 
written for the common people (price 3d.), in the fourth stereotype edition, 
the inflammatory tendency of which is shown still more by the vignette 
than the contents : a repulsively ugly woman, whose head-dress is composed 
of the crown and mitre combined, is feeding with a spoon a bloated child, 
already deformed by over-feeding, while five starving and ragged children 
are standing below crying piteously for food, or sitting in sullen despair on 
the ground. This is in truth a picture of society in England: God grant 
that it may not come to this with us also ! 

I recommend Bourrienne's Memoirs warmly to you, dear Dora, if I have 
not done so already. There you see Napoleon as he was. The book is a 
Waterloo for his memory ; the liberal journals too are as still as mice 
about it. On the other hand, my lectures have led me again to speak 
still more directly of the immortal Mirabeau ; I should like to raise a mon- 
ument to him 

CCCLXV. 

Bonn, 20th December, 1829. 

The revision of the second volume is at last rapidly approaching its 
conclusion. I have been terribly slow over this volume ; the work was far 
more difficult than in the first, which related to general institutions, with 
the consideration of which I had often been able to occupy myself during 
my stay in Rome, where I was surrounded by objects calculated to throw 
light on them. The present volume treats of detached facts, with respect 
to which we have generally but very few external sources of correction ; 
and arbitrary institutions, the traces of which are very scanty and indis- 
tinct. My time has not been spent in vain. I have freed the history from 
the year 260 (490 B.C.) onward, from all falsifications, and in its restored 
state it will no longer be liable to suspicion or accusation; there is not a 
single chasm left in the successive steps by which the constitution was de- 
veloped ; in fact I think that no single question which might be suggested 
by intelligent reflection remains unanswered. But this I have only been 
able to attain very gradually ; the most important points are the result of 
sudden flashes of light and divinations, with regard to which it often seri- 
ously crossed my mind, whether I had not been inspired by the spirits of 
the ancients, as a reward for my faithful efforts on behalf of their memory. 
But this I would on no account say to any one but yourself; besides, I do 
not say it in earnest now. 

I have separated the principal legends from the annals which had be- 
come suspicious through their intermixture with these, have restored them 
to their proper shape, and recovered the pure outline of the annals them- 
selves. It is incredible how rich and uncorrupted they are 

CCCLXVI. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Bonn, 19th February, 1830. 
My Dear Friend — You will not require an account of the calamity 
which has befallen us. The history of the conflagration you have learnt 



518 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

through our friends. The whole lies already like a frightful dream beyond 
my historical remembrance. 

You will know that the copy of the second volume, in which I had in- 
troduced a multitude of additions, was lost and has been recovered. This 
was a great consolation ! The actual manuscript part, so far as the book 
had been entirely remodeled, or received extensive additions, has indeed 
been saved, as well as the sketch of the third volume. One sheet has been 
found too of the manuscript that was ready for press, and should have been 
sent on the next day. It is the introduction and first chapter. I shall 
begin with all energy to restore the missing portions as soon as I have 
finished cataloguing the books that are saved, for the insurance offices to 
make their estimates. 

At first, my wife stood the shock of the misfortune — of the fright and 
the severe cold to which she was exposed, half-clothed, better than I had 
hoped. But afterward the mournful task of looking over the articles we 
had saved, and which were in great part rendered useless, so affected her 
nerves and exhausted her strength, that the joyful feeling is now over, with 
which I had buoyed myself up for some months past, that her health was 
much better than usual at this time of year. 

We have not lost heart, my old friend. Our thoughts are fixed upon the 
rebuilding of what has been destroyed, with enlargements and improve- 
ments, for the sake of which we look forward to the milder season with 
impatience. We hope to be able to add a third story, which would afford 
me winter rooms with the sun, and a view over the town toward the 
Kreuzberg, and sideways toward the Siebengebirge. 

The Holwegs have treated us in the most affectionate manner. God 
reward them for it. We have experienced many proofs of affection from 
all kinds of people ; from such as we know to be friends, and from many 
who were almost strangers to us ; from the towns-people too. The stu- 
dents have done every thing in their power, and richly rewarded my affec- 
tion for them ; by dint of inconceivable exertions, they have saved almost 
the whole of my library, though they were not able to prevent its suffering 
great injury. All the books in which I had written collations and emend- 
ations of importance are safe. 

It is now my most ardent wish that we may be able to remove into our 
new house in the autumn, and remain in it many years. I could not con- 
ceive a better lot for the whole of our life, and would not ask for a happier 
life than that which I have led here since my return from Berlin in 1825; 
particularly during the glorious southern climate we had here in the years 
1825 and 1826. 

I have already told you that the printing of the second part should 
have begun immediately. It had been delayed just at last, and this print- 
ing of the volume, which would have been thicker than the first, would 
not have been finished before the autumn. I intended afterward to take 
flight and visit Berlin, in order to see you, my dear friend, and the Crown 
Prince, and to convince the latter that it is not the long journey, nor yet 
caprice, that prevents my coming, but that I will not again be separated 
from my wife and children as I was that winter. Now, of course, the 
journey is out of the question. But I regret being compelled to give it 
up all the more, because any thing that thus excites and diverts the mind 
is such an extraordinary benefit and help, and my route would lie through 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 519 

Thuringia and Saxony. Hermann has behaved so frankly and nobly, and 
one of his favorite pupils, Professor Wunder, has attached himself so warm- 
ly to me, that I thought with pleasure of a day at Leipsic; and Goethe 
too is still so fresh, that it would not have been too late to make his ac- 
quaintance. Are you not as thoroughly delighted as we are with his Cor- 
respondence with Schiller, and the new volume of the Travels in Italy ? 
Goethe's greatness — in all its versatility and depth — shines forth beyond 
my expectations from the whole of this collection, and in his letters he is 
as great as Cicero. Schiller too I understand and like much better since 
reading these letters. You will remember, perhaps, that I did not share 
the idolatry of him, which was universally prevalent at one time ; but that 
man had a thoroughly noble nature who was never rendered arrogant by 
such adoration, which exalted him far above Goethe, but willingly and 
cheerfully recognized the superiority of his friend, and paid him affectionate 
homage. 

How barren and dumb is our literature now ! How apathetic are all 
hearts ! We, however, who know how to enjoy, are made much richer 
by these publications than we were thirty years ago, or our fathers fifty 
years ago. Thus it was with the Greeks after Alexander's time, at the 
beginning of the Peloponnesian war. 

CCCLXVII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 4th Avgust, 1830. 
I sit down to write to you to-day, as in the war times, when we sought 
intercourse in writing to our dearest friends, because the events happening 
around us made it impossible for us to pursue our ordinary occupations, 
though at the same time they made us lose sight of the personal affairs 
which form the usual subject of our communications. This will sound 
like an enigma to you, dearest Dora, as you will scarcely, if newspapers 
and letters reach you together, look into the former first, nor have heard 
already, through any other channel, what has come to our ears early this 
morning ; viz., that an insurrection had broken out at Paris on the 27th 
and 28th of July, the issue of which was still quite undecided. If the 
newspapers have already been brought to you, you will very likely learn 
at the same time that you receive this, what we shall not know till to- 
morrow. I scarcely think you will learn the decision as yet, but perhaps 
what may to some extent enable you to divine it. It is possible that the 
insurrection may be quelled by a massacre, if the troops of the line stand 
firm to the King, which seemed, however, doubtful on the 28th at noon ; 
it is possible that they may join the people, and overpower the guards ; it 
is possible the Court may take flight as after the 14th July, 1789, and 
even that the King may abdicate. In this case, the whole spell of royal 
power is dissolved, and the King will be as impotent as Louis XVI., and 
the best thing that could happen then would, undoubtedly, be the eleva- 
tion of the Duke of Orleans to the throne. A new dynasty can begin its 
career with incomparably more authority than the old vanquished one. 
If the rebels get the upper hand, and the Court does not give way, we 
may expect that the Deputies now sitting at Paris will constitute them- 
selves, form a government, and restore the National Guard. A happy 



520 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

result is in no case conceivable ; no one will be carried away by a delirium 
of passionate sympathy and hope, as in 1789. Foreign powers will not 
be so mad as to interfere, but in the general ferment, any slight occasion 
may impel the French to begin a war. 

The Protestant feeling of our King is the surest guarantee that he will 
not suffer himself to be implicated: for without fail Protestants will be 
murdered in the south. Austria has probably encouraged the government 
to venture on their bold attempts, but will scarcely have promised assist- 
ance. I will not deny that I should sooner have expected the sky to fall, 
than an insurrection to take place, and I was led to this opinion by the 
expressions of liberal Frenchmen. People of this party, who were certain- 
ly in a very good position for judging, confessed last autumn, that if the 
Polignac ministry had attempted a coup d'etat immediately on its accession 
to power, at the same time not sparing money, any thing might have been 
possible. The sentence " le peuple a donne sa demission" had become a 
proverb, and as there are now so many families who have property to lose, 
and nobody builds castles in the air as in 1789, I decidedly believed that 
they would be able to muzzle the nation. I lamented the " ordonnances," 
because they introduced a detestable misrule, but that they would succeed 
for the present I did not doubt. I certainly thought it would only be for 
the present, that in the long run they could not be maintained, and even 
that the dynasty might probably fall in a few years ; that is, if the priests 
went too far. The government have made a mistake in waiting for a 
year without checking the freedom of the press, and now all at once heap- 
ing every thing together that was calculated to embitter and exasperate 
the people. 

I remembered too, how easily the Parisians suffered themselves to be 
dispersed in October, 1795, and how insignificant were the occurrences in 
June, 1820 : and hence, I did not give them credit for allowing them- 
selves to be so far excited by political feelings as to risk their lives. They 
have proved themselves more manly than I thought. The insult to the 
citizens of depriving them of the right to vote, hitherto obtained by taking 
out a license to trade — the fear of retaining only a phantom of representa- 
tion, which might be used to procure a sanction to the most odious de- 
crees, and abhorrence of the priests, have all combined to drive the people 
to madness. This does not prove that they will hold out ; if the troops 
of the line make a decisive advance, Paris will surrender. One of your 
first thoughts, dear Dora, on hearing of these events will be, that the 
greater part of our property is invested in France. If the liberals win the 
day, it is safe : to pay the State creditors is the interest and the system 
of this party : it could only be in danger if a civil war broke out. 

We may hear the decision of the fate of Paris so early as to-morrow, 
and can hardly be without it longer than the day after. We have a daily 
post from Paris here, and learned on the twelfth, that Algiers had surren- 
dered on the fifth. 

In the midst of such engrossing excitement, I get on but badly with 
composition ; and I am already at least a quarter of this volume behind- 
hand with the materials I have to work out. For more than the last 
three weeks I had already found it very hard work, on account of the 
excessive and continuous heat. And now in September comes the annual 
review of the troops and afterward our removal. I long to finish this 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 521 

volume, not, as with, the first, in order to see it before me a finished 
creation, hut to have got rid of the arduous labor. When I look through 
the proof sheets now, I rejoice indeed in the richness of their contents, and 
the discoveries, through which the history of Home, during a period when 
it seemed lost in impenetrable obscurity, has been fully restored and estab- 
lished on a solid foundation ; but I can not believe that it will be an at- 
tractive work. Those who wish to find fault, and they are generally the 
majority, will find room for complaint that so many minutiae and such an 
expenditure of research should be found in the history of a trivial age. 

Have I told you lately that a very impertinent review of my history has 
appeared in the Debats, on occasion of the translation ? No doubt by that 
empty sciolist Villemain, whose weak head has been turned by the plaudits 
of the public. One must try to become hardened against things of this 
kind. This man, like other fools who will make themselves heard, always 
goes back to the earliest times, and he in particular tells me it is nothing 
new to refuse to regard these as historical. These people are actually un- 
able to understand, that the value of my exposition consists in my having 
shown why and how each circumstance has been invented 

CCCLXVII1. 

Bonn, 16tk August, 1830. 

However strongly the present events excite the desire to interchange my 
thoughts with you, it is yet difficult to find the necessary leisure and quiet- 
ness of mind, as I am obliged to prepare manuscript and correct proof 
sheets. I feel almost stupefied with all I have to attend to, and a letter 
which I was obliged to write a short time ago turned out so badly in con- 
sequence, that I wish it had never been written. With you, dear Dora, I 
need not fear this ; I do not shrink from your seeing me half asleep. 

I was not quite unprepared for the way in which danger and calamity 
of all kinds are now every where breaking in. I have enjoyed the happi- 
ness of the years gone by, with the presentiment that it could not last. 
The revolution I did not expect ; indeed, I thought it impossible. I ex- 
pected individual calamities, such as the comparatively mild one which 
has befallen us, and the dreadful one which has befallen the Brandis fam- 
ily* 

If peace last, I think there is no fear but that our dividends will be paid 
us. The government will make extraordinary reductions in the budget, 
and although the bankers will assuredly not retain forever such overween- 
ing influence as they now possess, in a representative state public opinion 
and self-interest will secure the payment of the dividends. A reduction 
to four per cent, will no doubt take place, and that is fair, and is occurring 
every where. If the cabinets were mad enough to engage in a war, then 
indeed both capital and interest would be endangered : and as, in all prob- 
ability, the war would take the same course as that of the revolution, our 
property and our whole existence here would be abandoned to destruction. 
I do not know how far one can reckon upon the fact of the danger being 
so apparent; the impossibility of a result ought to strike all. The sover- 
eigns may perhaps be led astray by the example of 1815 ; the rest of us, 
you at a distance, we on the frontiers, are not liable to this delusion. 

* In Kiel, where the brother-in-law of Professor Brandis lost his life, together 
with his son, in the burning of his house. 



522 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

Simple people leave this unanswered, and are forever harping upon one 
string — the danger that threatens all Europe. Yes, in truth, danger does 
threaten ; the revolution which had been defunct for years, has started into 
new and most vigorous life ; in many respects, indeed, it is widely different 
from that of 1789, but still in essence it is the same, and armed with the 
same strength. But who can believe in these days that it will be con- 
quered because it is so fearful ? Neither does it avail any thing to curse 
those who have made it inevitable — who have exorcised, and conjured till 
the spectre which they thought to lay, has risen out of the earth and an- 
nihilated them. I have delivered my sentiments on this subject publicly ; 
on the impiousness of the jesuitico-aristocratic factions, which took their 
rise in 1821, and how they ought to be execrated; but it has been without 
effect. Still, every honest man, whose voice has any weight whatever, is 
bound to cry aloud against the sympathy and commiseration expressed for 
fallen majesty. 

I will not deny that I think the Parisians heroic, the moderation of the 
victors not simply theatrical, and the discretion of the deputies, even of 
the extreme Left, worthy of high respect. Every thing has gone on better 
than in 1789, and by this it is evident that the nation has really improved. 
I only wish old La Fayette and echoes of him were out of the way ! 

That the scholars and literati among the French have changed, is shown 
by the way in which they receive the translation of my History. A second 
edition of it is in the press, although the first consisted of 1600 copies. 
Paris is the only place in which a regular course of lectures has been de- 
livered on the work. They manage it rather awkwardly, but still show 
much good-will. 

I will leave off here to go out ; the air does me good. If the revolution 
had not happened, in all human probability, in the course of this year, i.e. 
before August, 1831, I should have gone to Berlin, and very likely to see 
you. 

CCCLXIX. 

Bonn, 1th October, 1830. 

I have not been so long without writing to you since I can remember, 
dearest Dora ; but neither have I experienced such a paralysis of the soul 
since 1806 and 1807, as during the last five or six weeks. Even in 1806 
and 1807, when calamities we now only foresee had actually occurred, I 
did not feel so vulnerable to the strokes of fate as I do now. We were 
childless, I was young and full of life ; now I am old, shall probably in a 
few years leave a widow and children unprovided for behind me 

Since the loss of Belgium, the seat of war is brought within a few 
marches of us, and though every thing is still perfectly quiet in our prov- 
ince, and all who have property recognize that their salvation depends on 
the maintenance of the existing order of things, we are, notwithstanding, 
threatened with an outbreak on the part of the populace, if an opportunity 
offer. Added to this, there are fears for the safety of our property since 
the outbreak of the revolt in Belgium. I have decided to sell more than 
two-thirds of our French stock, and to invest the price in various places, so 
that at all events we may not lose all with one blow ; the rest I shall leave 
in France for the same reason. No man can advise himself or others with 
tertainty in such cases. My uneasiness about these affairs is certainly no 



RESIDENCE IN BONN, 523 

mean love of money, but a most justifiable anxiety on the part of the father 
of a family, in such times ; as also the other question — how to invest the 
money. I have resolved to dispose of a part of it in Russian bonds and 
certificates. I have decided to take these upon conviction, because we can 
not conceal from ourselves, that while all these movements may add to the 
overthrow of Germany, they will extend the dominion of Russia, and be- 
cause this power, invulnerable from without, finds support within from the 
size of its population, grows yearly, and will always be able to bear a 
much heavier national debt than her present one. This is not a question 
of sentiment but of facts, and upon these I act. The Norwegian funds 
are likewise now no contemptible property, as there is, perhaps, no State 
less threatened with war, and, after the example of Holland, Sweden will, 
no doubt, perceive that it is her policy to give way, if Norway should wish 
to loosen still more the bond between them. 

The fate of our town, in case of war, situated as it is between two fort- 
resses, I need not picture to you. For we can not deceive ourselves as to 
the fact, that the war would be disastrous to us, that we should be driven 
back, since a great part of Germany, far from supporting us, would receive 
the French with open arms. Our resting-place will therefore not remain 
here in that case ; and I have made up my mind to our leaving, as soon 
as the war breaks out. It would then certainly be a great pity that we 
have the house. Meanwhile, whenever I go into it and see how beautiful 
it looks in its new condition, it has such a charm upon me, that I should 
bring myself to give it up with great difficulty. 

I have breathed more freely for the last two days, because I have 
finished the preface to the second volume. I can not describe what a 
torture it was to me to be obliged to compose every week manuscript 
sufficient for two printers', sheets, not to speak of correcting the press, in 
this state of anxiety and depression, and with my thoughts so differently 
occupied. The printing might have been delayed, but Reimer was urgent 
that the book should be finished in October, and I too was anxious to 
bring it to an end. I am conscious that the part which has been written 
since the 1st of August, betrays the state of mind in which it has been 
produced, while the first two-thirds may, perhaps, be considered as a suc- 
cessful effort, notwithstanding the dryness of the subject-matter. I have 
said this in the preface, as also that my hopes of following it up with a 
third volume after a short interval of rest, had been frustrated by the un- 
happy state of public affairs.* 

* "At another season the delay [in the printing of this volume] would have 
had no influence on the execution of my work : but only two-thirds of it were 
completed when the madness of the French court burst the talisman which 
kept the demon of the revolution in bonds. The remainder has been written 
under a feeling that it was a duty not to leave what I had began unfinished, 
amid constant efforts to repel the harassing anxiety ever pressing upon me 
from the prospect of the rain which menaced my property, mv dearest posses- 
sions, and my happiest ties. The first volume was written when every thing 
was smiling around me, and I was thankfully and heartily enjoying it in the 
most perfect unconcern about the future. Now, unless God sends us some mi- 
raculous help, we have to look forward to a period of destruction similar to that 
which the Roman world experienced about the middle of the third century of 
our era — to the annihilation of prosperity, of freedom, of civility, of knowledge. 
Still even though barbarism should for a long season scare the muses and learn- 
ing entirely away, a time will come when Roman history will again be an ob- 



524 MLMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

My expressions about the impending future, its retrogression toward 
barbarism, the flight of the sciences and muses, will be recognized by- 
posterity as the view of an unprejudiced contemporary; at present they 
will raise the clamors of the dazzled multitude. Very few know whither 
they desire to go; the greater number start up and run headlong away, 
like people taking a walk who only want to give themselves exercise ; 
they are completely under the influence of declamation and visionary 
ideas ; yet among them are honorable men, and even authors of talent. 

While I was lamenting over these infatuated revolutionists, I received a 
bullying letter from *, because having occasion to write to him, I had 
freely declared that this resuscitation of the revolution was entirely to be 
ascribed to the priestly party and a perverse aristocracy. He flies at me 
as if he would tear me to pieces for " seeing such phantoms and defending 
the liberals." There is a priestly aristocratic party here, small in num- 
bers, but which has a nest in Coblentz, by which he suffers himself to be 
befooled. However dear the friendship of any man may be to me, I can 
not purchase its continuance at the sacrifice of truth. 

Gretchen bas a good thought about our emigration, if it must be ; to 
turn our steps to Halle, where we have a friend in Bluhme, and have also 
other acquaintances. 

After the perfect apathy which reigned as long as the great tendencies 
which were the precursors of present events might have been calmly set 
forth, is there now with you, who have nothing to fear for yourselves, the 
same universal exulting garrulity on the course of public events, which 
prevailed forty years ago ? Here, even the liberals, with few exceptions, 
are full of anxiety, and many judge very sagaciously. Political follies 
have had little influence so far. A state of prosperity is hardly possible 
in France, even if peace lasts : if war comes, there can be no security for 
any thing in the general breaking up. It is all over with the Imperial 
party, but it can not be absolutely affirmed that republican anarchy may 
not lead back to the Duke of Bordeaux. No one can deny that the people 
of Brunswick and Hesse Cassel have right on their side, in the main also, 
the people of Dresden ; but with them the imitation of the French is al- 
ready grievous and disgraceful ; the risings of the peasantry are horrible. 

The absence of every kind of joy, hope, and illusion is a peculiar feature 
in these revolutions, particularly that in France, as compared with 1789. 
Every thing bears the impress of age and decrepitude ; the aged La 
Fayette, who still dreams that he is in the olden times, stands like a 
spectre in the midst. There is much more self-consciousness than there 
was then ; the lowest rabble have their eyes bent on their own immediate 
advantage. Forms are a matter of indifference, except to a few young 
visionaries. It is very possible that such a dissolution of society as that 
in South America may take place even in France. The mercantile class, 
heartily as it detests the priesthood, would be only too glad if the revolu- 
tion had never happened. I held it to be impossible, because I knew that 
the upper classes thought of nothing but their own advantage, and 
cherished no dreams. It was to be foreseen that they could never expose 
themselves to the bullets, and so it has turned out; they have let loose 

ject of attention and interest, though not in the same manner as in the fifteenth 
century."— Preface to the second volume of the History of Rome. (Hare and 
Thirlwall's Translation.) 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 525 

the mob, and in Paris it has beha-?ed not only with heroic courage, hut for 
a mob most admirably. The m'^ery and the scarcity of food are now in- 
describable, and things can not improve. 

We have passed several d?ys in immediate anxiety. Now we have our 
garrison again. The day <?.i which the news of the insurrection at Aix-la- 
Chapelle reached Bonn w^s horrible ; just like the air before an approach- 
ing storm, or in the south, before an earthquake, when all animals are full 
of terror. On the previous evening, similar tidings had come from Liege, 
at nine in the morni' g they came from Aix-la-Chapelle ; an hour after, a 
fellow stood up here m one of the squares and exhorted the mob to insur- 
rection ; the popula -e eyed us of the higher ranks with looks of defiance 
and scorn ; in the a^evnoon, we learnt that a disturbance had broken out 
at Cologne. Our hou~e is opposite to a large manufactory, whose master 
is universally hated, ft ira which we are only separated by a broad open 
street, and moreover ■» 3 had neither a garrison nor a national guard, nor 
any one who knew h^ r to form one. For the present we are quite safe. 
We shall remove in J ) our new house in a fortnight at furthest, unless 
great changes t^k«» ■ lace between now and then. The repairs are very 
nearly complet< / ... 

CCCLXX. 

TO SAVIGNY. 

Bonn, 16th November, 1830. 

Th'. preface expresses my views about the future, with that 

strict correspondence with my thoughts, which I always endeavor to ob- 
serve. It jS my "firm conviction that we, particularly in Germany, are 
rapidly hastening toward barbarism, and it is not much better in France. 
That we are threatened with devastation, such as that two hundred 
years ago, is, I am sorry to say, just as clear to me, and the end of the 
tale will be, despotism enthroned amid universal ruin. In fifty years, and 
probably much less, there will be no trace left of free institutions or the 
freer" .om of the press throughout all Europe, at least on the Continent. 
Ve' y few of the things which have happened since the revolution in Paris, 
hs.ve surprised me. Before the revolution, a Frenchman had started the 
j-iestion in a newspaper, what I should say to Caesar's death ? 

I am just sending this reply to him ; " As I do about the ordonnances j 
submission was impossible, and yet both now and then, it was a calamity 
hat the attempt succeeded." You will not find this paradoxical 

[The following extracts from some of Niebuhr's letters written about 
.his time, are given in the Lebensnachrichten, without a date :] 

" In my opinion, what constitutes a royalist, is to believe that the 
State is no arbitrary association ; — that the whole is before the parts ; — 
that government is of God ; — that government is the first necessity, and 
that government and liberty must be combined ; — that they may be so 
under the most diverse forms ; — that forms which set bounds to the pre- 
tensions of the mass of mediocrity are salutary ; those which do not, 
intrinsically bad ; — that attempts to alter the constitution by insurrection, 
are not merely irrational, but criminal. And on all these grounds I can 
acquiesce in the mistaken measures of the aristocracy, although I am often 



526 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

keenly alive to their errors. But if I am required to acknowledge any 
tyranny as sacred, and to pronounce every endeavor to break the yoke, 
rebellion, even where commanded by the most urgent distress, I can not 
yield my assent ; and when I see folly and ignorance at the helm of affairs 
it rouses my indignation, and I do not conceal my sentiments." 

" Our disease is far too deeply seated to be removed by mere changes in 
the constitution : for, from no change made in these times, and by the 
men of this generation, can we venture to hope for that legislation, which 
might bring us into a healthful and progressive condition, by transforming 
our habits and our entire social circumstances. What we want, is as 
certain and clear to me as my own existence, and to a great extent I could 
express it, but it were to talk to the winds, and I do not choose to be 
dragged through the mire to no purpose. ' They have Moses and the 
Prophets, and hear them not.' Were I in power, I would act, and with 
vigor, in God's name, even if it brought danger to myself." 

" Many royalists are not so in the same sense as I and my fellow-think- 
ers ; they regard that as admirable and praiseworthy, which we only de- 
fend as necessary in principle, without denying that in the actual state of 
things it often works very ill, and, therefore, while we maintain that if it 
fall, every thing must go to ruin, yet, we prophesy that no human power 
can uphold it, unless a reform take place, and a new life be infused into it. 
For example, we say there must be an aristocracy, indeed, an aristocracy 
of many grades ; but we add, at this moment there is no tolerable aristoc- 
racy existing, and that which calls itself such, is a phantom from which 
all vital energy has fled. The other party are satisfied with this aristoc- 
racy as it is, and fancy it is only necessary to compel obedience. We say, 
make proper regulations, and obedience will not be wanting if a good ex- 
ample is set to the people. They think to accomplish all by repression, 
and we demand free scope for movement, in conformity with the law. We 
say, when the governments understand their vocation of ruling, the subjects 
will soon return to theirs of obeying. And so on without end. 

" In this, our two parties (if I may so call them) agree, that revolution 
is rebellion, and that of the most ruinous kind that can befall nations ; and 
likewise, that we despise the liberals beyond all expression for their shal- 
lowness and wickedness. But I do not thereby abrogate my conviction 
that it is only the despotism now inseparable from it, owing to the mon- 
strosity of the ruling ideas of the present day, which renders revolution so 
utterly execrable, that it can bring forth nothing but evil, and that a 
sensible man ought to risk every thing even for a bad government, sooner 
than submit to it. My conviction is, that ere the despotism of liberalism 
became all-powerful, there were perfectly justifiable revolutions, in which 
one power was victorious in the struggle with the usurpations of another 
power, as in England and the Netherlands. Lastly, that tyranny, under 
all circumstances and in all ages, remains tyranny ; and that where this 
exists, nature takes her course, though under our present conditions, that 
course can lead to nothing but slavery. Many good men call such princi- 
ples dangerous, and although they may be far from mistaking the motives 
of one who maintains them (like myself, who, in order not to acquire an 
unmerited reputation, have fully developed them in my report to the gov- 
ernment) yet they can not help feeling a little terror at his openness and 
temerity. This may make it clear in what sense I am an unconditional. 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 527 

true, and faithful royalist, and that I have not swerved in the least from 
the principles of which I am an avowed adherent." 

" Had I lived in ancient Rome, and had it been possible for a Tribune 
to propose such a regeneration of the State as the short-sighted people of 
our day desire, I would have helped to strike him dead in God's name ; 
and if I lived in a State where one constitutional element of the whole was 
injuriously repressed, whether it were the democratic, or a truly aristo- 
cratic element, I would strain every nerve to give it fair play, and put it 
in possession of its rights. 

With us Germans, aristocracy can never become so sickening as a super- 
ficial liberalism. The hot fever has burnt itself out, like a plague that at 
last vanishes spontaneously ; still we shall have repose, and be able to 
return to the quiet life of our grandfathers, who were not, indeed, like our- 
selves, threatened with a barbarian yoke. 

Constitutional forms are of no use among an enervated or foolish nation. 
What avails the choice of representatives, when there are no men fit to 
represent the people? Is it answered, " Let them learn by practice;" 
that is. indeed, to sport with the gravest matters. I say ; give them free 
communal institutions, and let them, in the first instance, learn by prac- 
tice within a sphere with which they are acquainted. Believe me (but 
that you know already), I know how to prize a free constitution, and am 
certainly better acquainted than most with its meaning and worth ; but, 
of all things, the first and most essential is, that a nation should be manly, 
unselfish, and honorable. If it is that, free laws will grow up of them- 
selves by degrees." 

CCCLXXI. 

TO MOLTKE. 

End of November, 1830. 

Instead of the She-wolf, there now stands in the room which I 

have taken for myself a bust which must be familiar to your remem- 
brance of Paris in 1790, which you have probably possessed yourself, the 
mention of which will call up that whole period to your mind — Mirabeau, 
by Houdon. I do not know if it has reached your ears, that I gave a 
course of lectures last year, on the History of the Revolution. On that 
occasion I read the "Opinions et Travaux," and my heart beat so strongly 
for the demon, the mightiest of all the men whose lifetime has coincided 
with my own, that I commissioned a person in Paris to purchase his bust 
for me. It was not to be found ; no one inquires for it now, just as no 
one now reads this Demosthenes. A full half year passed before my 
commissioner was able to hunt up a replastered, varnished copy ; but 
even this is valuable to me. Now the fact that Mirabeau had vanished 
from the eyes and the thoughts of the people, was a proof to me that the 
revolution was done with ; and I inferred this still more decisively, from 
the manifest certainty that no one cherished any longer those hopes of 
better, if not golden times, by the dreams of which our youth was buoyed 
up ; and who could have thought it possible that in an utterly unpoetical 
age — one like that which Petronius paints, when men, if they sacrificed 
at all, offered gold in ingots to the gods, to spare the cost of moulding it 
— people would risk wealth and comfort in order to wreak their anger ? 
It is so, nevertheless, and I have been a false prophet; but it must be 



528 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

allowed that it was insane conduct which drove the people mad with 
intolerable oppression ; and even as it is, the result has been very different 
from that which took place in those years of youthful enthusiasm. Tre- 
mendous catastrophes have come to pass, and there is no resistance, not a 
semblance of great men, no joy or enthusiasm, no hopes for the future — 
except that the time will one day come, when, by means of mutual 
instruction, every peasant boy shall be able to read. The truth of the 
thing is the unvailed destitution of the populace, who are resolved to bear 
it no longer ; and this again paves the way for a revision of property ; 
which is not, indeed, something new under the sun, but has been unheard of 
for centuries past, and even now seems quite inconceivable to our politicians, 
who have set property, in the place of God, in the Holiest of Holies. We 
have fallen into the state of Rome after the times of the Gracchi, with all 
its horrors, and he who can not see this is blind; he who thinks the ques- 
tion has any thing to do with freedom is a fool ; forms will no longer hold 
tilings together; we shall bless despotism if it protects our lives, as the 
Romans blessed that of Augustus. That it was possible for reasonable 
men to do this, I had comprehended long ago ; now, it is perfectly, vividly 
clear to me; and now I also understand Catiline. 

This would be mournful enough if it only affected our contemporaries in 
foreign lands, and we were able to retain those good things of life which 
Livy, Horace, and Virgil enjoyed after the battle of Actium, and through 
whose possession they were able to keep their mind serene and fit for crea- 
tive efforts ; namely, security, leisure, the power and splendor of the State. 
But in our poor Germany, hopeless confusion is breaking forth in all direc- 
tions, and delivering us unarmed and defenseless into the hands of our 
hereditary enemy, who is already revenging himself by insolence and scorn, 
for the short time during which he has lain bound, and broods over no less 
a design than the restoration of his tyranny, and the sacking of all neigh- 
boring countries. I could have resigned myself to the dissolution of the 
present order of things, though it would bring a miserably inefficient set of 
men into the place of those who now hold the reigns of government, and set 
before them a far more difficult task, but that it would inevitably lead to 
the wreck of our independence amid the fearful storms of war. 

And let no one delude themself with the idea that, at all events, free con- 
stitutions would spring from the convulsion : it will lead very quickly to an 
absolute military despotism, which will scarcely trouble itself with outside 
decencies even so much as that of Napoleon. In Holstein also the people 
are already beginning to agitate. These men are perhaps still greater 
strangers to you than to me. Respecting the enterprise and its conse- 
quences there can be no difference of opinion between us, except of a little 
more or less indulgence. God help us to endure what we can not avert ! 
Gretchen asked me lately in earnest, whether I still, as in the time of Na- 
poleon, thought of going to North America. " If it were not for the chil- 
dren," whom I would rather see Germans, even under a Russian rule than 
Anglo-Americans ! Farewell, dear friend. Shall we not see each other 
again somewhere ? You have never answered my invitation to the Rhine, 
and now that is out of the question. Ptemember me to your sons ; I have 
received Magnus's circular ; wish him success in my name. My wife sends 
her kindest regards to you, she braces herself up to bear what is inevitable. 

Your old Niebuhr. 



RESIDENCE IN BONN- 529 

CCCLXXII. 

TO PERTHES. 

Bonn, 17tk December, 1830. 

3. The sudden demand for my old translation of the Philippic is 

as inexplicable to me as to you. I can not have the slightest objection to 
your republishing it ; instead of the dedication, which is now inapplicable, 
I should like you to insert after the title page what is written on the in- 
closed sheet.* 

With this my answer to your inquiries is ended, and now comes my turn. 

1. I thank you very much for sending me the further parts that have ap- 
peared of your great series of historical works. Stenzel's book treats in- 
deed of a field which I have explored less than any other, but so far as I 
may presume to express a judgment notwithstanding, I think it very excel- 
lent, and hope it will be received as it deserves. 

2. You know Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, to which Sir J. Macintosh's, 
Sir Walter Scott's, &c, historical works belong. In the same collection 
will appear the History of Greece up to Alexander, by my translator Thirl- 
wall. It will be no erudite work, but the work of a truly erudite and in- 
tellectual man. Before the outbreak of the revolution, I begged the author 
to send me proof sheets, which Classen should translate under my eye ; I 
intended to add a preface and a continuation up to the Roman period. 
We had agreed to offer you the work, my dear friend : I wished that some- 
thing of consequence from my hand should be published by Perthes, and 
your fellow-citizen Classen had the same feeling. Tliirlwall very modestly 
declined sending the sheets to me, saying that they were not worth the 
trouble. Under other circumstances, I should boldly advise a publisher to 
get the book as soon as it appears (which is so easy in Hamburgh), and to 
announce that a translation of it by Classen would appear with a preface 
and a continuation. But now, I can not promise you a continuation ; if 
we are fugitives, where shall we find a secure resting-place where I could 
work? And now will you venture the announcement with the addition 
"in case I should not be prevented" from giving the continuation? And 
send for the book ? And how much could you afford to pay Classen for it ? 
Under other circumstances it would be an uncommonly good article, for 
there is at present no book of the kind at all. 

3. My burdened heart would fain relieve itself by some admonitions to 
the Germans, at which your last letter hints : prudence counsels silence — 
says it would make little impression. If I write, and am satisfied with my 
performance, I shall send it to you. Never has Germany been so treach- 
erous to herself as now 5 and since the revolution in Poland, not only has 
salvation through our own efforts become impossible, but even for a miracle 
there is no place left, which is always indispensable before a miracle can 
interfere in the course of earthly affairs 

CCCLXXIII. 

TO MADAME HENSLER. 

Bonn, 19th December, 1830. 
I do not mean to question that the administration of justice is 



* Publisbed in his " Nachgelassene Schriften." The last words he ever wrote 
for publication. 

Z 



530 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

:n a bad condition, but the multiplicity of the systems is the least part of 
the evil ; the most lamentable circumstance is the character of the judges 
themselves, who seem to have laid aside the old characteristics of their or- 
der. This is the case wherever you inquire ; the old severe gravity has van- 
ished from the tribunals, whose members for the most part simply endeavor, 
like other officials, to expedite the work allotted to them with as little trou- 
ble as possible, and have no conscientious feeling that they ought to admin- 
ister the Right, an idea which is quite foreign to the professors of jurispru- 
dence. I by no means wish to do away with Codes of law altogether. I 
should rejoice to see a complete revision of the existing system of laws in 
Holstein, but the reformers would not be satisfied with this. They want 
one single new Code, just as, when they talk of Chambers, they want an 
entirely new representation, and such a Code can not possibly succeed. 
There is no human being who could frame it. And, above all, from a Code 
of criminal law, may God preserve every country ! even if the jury were 
not to be immediately introduced in criminal cases, which is however an 
immediate consequence of the principles of these people. You have no 
doubt received the copies of my History, and read at the least the preface 
in your own copy. This has created a sensation of which I had not the 
least idea, when I was writing down the statements of my convictions, or, 
perhaps, I might have omitted it. It has roused a clamor, not only among 
those who rejoice in disturbances and destruction, and already regard as re- 
bellion any lamentations over the state of things which they promote, at 
least with their wishes, but also among those who do not like to think the 
evil quite so great as it is, and many who do me the honor to think them- 
selves wiser than I. What is said of me behind my back rarely comes to 
my ears, but I have accidentally heard something of it which makes me 
very indignant. It is said that I can not bear that any one should differ 
from me in opinion. This is not true ; on the contrary, no one can in prac- 
tice more completely concede to others the liberty to have what opinion they 
choose : I condemn none, and defend — how often — the sentiments of my 
greatest opponents. But I require that no one should take the liberty of 
blaming me for having my own, especially on subjects into which I have 
more insight, and on which I can form a better judgment than those who 
set themselves up for wiser, and who allow me no voice whatever in things 
belonging to their sphere. Meanwhile, I have a rich compensation in the 
unlimited approbation of Hermann, who is equally convinced with me that 
the present tendency of the world is toward barbarism. 

My sadness, quite apart from the misfortune which is impending over 
us personally, is caused by the degeneracy of our nation, no less than by 
the prospect of its servitude and devastation. It is impossible not to per- 
ceive that the noble qualities which were the glory of our nation are dis- 
appearing — depth, sincerity, originality, heart, and affection — that shallow- 
ness and impudence are becoming universal. This can not be charged upon 
the circumstances of the times ; things are pursuing an ordinary course, 
such as other nations have witnessed before ; and if there were nothing 
else, I should calmly work on for other ages, from which a book written 
now can not be quite kept back, even if Germany should be desolated by 
Hunnish ravages. But when we contemplate the present, when we look 
at the tiger in the West waiting with glaring eyes to pounce upon his 
prey : and the tone of feeling pervading all Germany (with the exception, 



RESIDENCE IN BONN. 531 

for the most part, of our old provinces), which furthers the design of the 
enemy, dissolves all bonds, makes resistance impossible, opens outstretched 
arms to the French! "Give us freedom," say they, "and we are ready 
to withstand the foreigner:" but this freedom is chaos, and the sway of 
madmen or fools ; and since their demands neither can nor will be granted, 
and there is no great man living to win the people to himself and carry 
them away with him, to all human foresight, the loss of the left shore of 
the Rhine to France, the inundation of the rest of Germany by French 
hordes, the destruction of the existing States, and the formation of servile 
republics under the guidance of traitors, has become quite inevitable after 
the insurrection of the Poles. I will not blame these latter ; the blame is 
due in the first place to the absurdity of forming them into a State, organ- 
izing their armies, and then sending them a ruler, who would have driven 
the mildest nation to despair. But while we lay no blame on them, and 
under other circumstances might even rejoice to see their revolt, he must 
be a wrong-headed man, who would not now think of the salvation of 
Germany in the first place. 

The French are always talking of defense, and their whole line of con- 
duct points to attack ; and in Germany no voice is raised to exclaim that 
no one has threatened them; the most that has been shown is a determina- 
tion not to suffer them to seize on Belgium. The German press is only an 
echo against Germany ! How willingly would they seek a pretext against 
Prussia, who does not, however, afford them the least, yet the "Correspond- 
ent" repeats the lying statement of an English journal, that the execution 
of the "bloody work" of subjugating Belgium was assigned to Prussia! 
It would lighten my heart to write ; the effort to smother my feelings quite 
deadens my faculties ; but if no great result could be expected, it would be 
a piece of knight-errantry to come forward singly. I have written a few 
words which may at least find an echo in the hearts of well-disposed but 
undecided persons, by way of preface to a reprint of the oration of De- 
mosthenes, which Perthes wishes for : a demand has suddenly arisen for it 
in South Germany, and all the copies in stock have been sold. 

The Russian bonds have received a great shock, which may lead to very 
bad consequences. Neither has the French credit been strengthened by the 
extension of French power, for further revolutions are, I think, inevitable 
What a change within five months ! "What a conclusion for this year ! 
how will the next end? God protect you, my beloved Dora, and us ! You 
will find a refuge, I trust. Give our love to all our friends and relations. 
Most likely I shall not write to you again in the old year. You will, I 
hope, pass a tolerably merry Christmas in spite of every thing ; I wish you 
may skim over a little of my book during the holidays. I embrace you 
tenderly once more in the old year. 

Your old Niebuhr. 



ON THE CHARACTER OF NIEBUHR,. 

BY PROFESSOR BKANDIS, OF BONN, 

AUTHOR OF THE " HISTORY OF THE ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY," ETC. 

Niebuhr was considered passionate, and his feelings, his predi- 
lections, and his dislikes were, no doubt, expressed with a warmth, 
or rather a vehemence, which, untempered by deliberation, could 
not fail either to carry all before it, or to hurt the feelings of others. 
Not alone the narrow-minded or ill-disposed, who might feel them- 
selves justly rebuked, but men of nobler nature were often wounded 
by his passing ebullitions of temper, or the sharpness of his ex- 
pressions. Even his most valued friends did not escape these 
passionate outbursts, which for the moment were deeply felt. 
Still it can be affirmed, that he never inflicted a deadly wound 
on friendship ; the shaft that pierced knew in like measure how 
to heal, not by explanations, too often fruitless, but by proofs of 
love, which, in general, followed speedily and unsought, and were 
therefore indescribably touching. His anger was easily borne, 
even when unjust, or partly unfounded, because it was but the 
transient flash of an inward fire, which otherwise could not have 
shone forth so brightly in good- will and friendship. 

It was the same with the love and hatred which were evident 
in his judgment on the past, and on the present, from which he 
was personally remote. To a man of his deep and strong feelings, 
it was impossible to observe and judge the occurrences of social 
life with the same coolness and impartiality as the necessary se- 
quence of natural events. Great and noble sentiments, or eminent 
powers of mind, filled him with love and admiration ; narrow and 
interested motives or aims, arrogant little-mindedness or vanity, 
he despised and disliked, whether they met his eye in the present 
or the past. His indignation against a Xenophon was as ardent 
as though he had even now left a noble father-land to its fate, in 
times of heavy need, and had nevertheless attained a false fame ; 
for whether it was the present or the past against which Niebuhr's 
anger was directed, it never arose from selfish considerations, 



ON THE CHARACTER OF NIEBTJHR. 533 

wounded vanity, or an envious wish to detract. No one could 
more thoroughly and cheerfully appreciate excellence of every 
kind ; no one could value those excellences more highly in which, 
often through a touching self-depreciation, he thought himself de- 
ficient. But the injustice of contemporaries or posterity hurt, nay 
exasperated him, as being at once the ungrateful disparagement 
of well-founded claims, the sign of a despicable want of independent 
judgment, and the hindrance to all lasting influence. To con- 
found good and evil, to place great and small things on the same 
level, was absolutely repulsive to his nature, whether it were the 
result of a deficiency in warmth of feeling, or in the acuteness of 
the moral sense ; for he was firmly convinced that only where 
the bad, the impure, and the base, are alike hated and despised, 
can the great and noble be truly reverenced and loved, and thus 
exert a purifying and elevating influence on the character. Hence 
he placed his standard, with regard to the formation of opinion, 
far higher than most men ; earnestness of mind, he considered, 
ought to be shown, above all things, in pronouncing a judgment, 
that the faculty of judging might be thereby developed. Incon- 
siderate or hasty expressions with regard to remarkable men or 
events, he did not easily allow to pass uncensured. 

It was impossible for Niebuhr, so thoroughly pervaded by moral 
earnestness, to contemplate history otherwise than from the centre 
of his own nature, and he looked upon the actual relations of life 
from the same point of view. To be misunderstood or depreciated 
affected him deeply ; and however ready he might be to admit 
contradiction, those truths which he had once grasped with living 
conviction, became portions of himself, and were as sacred hi his 
eyes as moral and religious principles, with which, indeed, they 
were always more or less bound up in his mind ; certainly they 
always had their origin in the pure love of truth. How frequent- 
ly he tested them, and how readily he relinquished those which 
would not bear re-examination, is most fully proved by the second, 
and by parts even of the third edition of his History of Home. 
What classical work has ever undergone so searching a revision ? 
But contradiction which, without a thorough examination of the 
subject, opposed mere assertion to convictions which he had found- 
ed on deep research — a setting up of bare possibilities, without 
real insight into the conditions, through which alone they could 
have come to pass — wounded him bitterly, especially when ac- 
companied by arrogance. It wounded him because it implied a 



534 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

refusal to recognize the conscientious earnestness of his investiga- 
tions, and because it deprived those truths which he believed him- 
self to have established, of the reception which he desired for them, 
on behalf of science. 

It is not surprising that he now and then adhered with some 
obstinacy to opinions not so important nor so well-grounded, but 
this never arose from dislike to acknowledge error, nor from petty- 
vanity. On the contrary, as he never adopted or expressed an 
opinion without the most careful examination and thorough mas- 
tery of all the facts relating to it, he could not give it up until it 
had received the most complete refutation. It was kept firm in 
his mind by the same profound love of truth from which it had 
originally proceeded, until a higher truth had dawned upon his 
sight. Men of more flexible intellect find it easier to sacrifice their 
earlier sentiments ; but are not their views, for this very reason, 
deficient in completeness and power ? Besides, it must be remem- 
bered that Niebuhr's opinions were most intimately connected 
with, and organically dependent upon each other, so that if one 
were given up, its successor must equally be brought into due re- 
lation to what remained behind ; while his more important prin- 
ciples were of a kind that could scarcely be renounced, but, at 
most, only undergo modification. Such a habit of mind could ex- 
ist only in one whose convictions were ever present to him as a 
whole ; it was at least the chief cause why Niebuhr almost inva- 
riably attained a higher insight by his own efforts, rarely by the 
aid of others, though a well-timed suggestion would quickly rouse 
him to fresh researches. Another cause lay in his early habit of 
resorting immediately to the fountain-heads, without availing him- 
self of the labors of his predecessors. Nothing less than that in- 
credible mastery over his materials, which he derived from an al- 
most unexampled grasp and certainty of memory, combined with 
the most brilliant reflective powers, could justify him in despising 
aids, which are indispensable to a less comprehensive and original 
mind. It was not indeed so much that he despised them, as that 
he seldom had occasion to make use of them. Up to his seven- 
teenth year, the classical authors had formed almost his sole read- 
ing, and he was already as much at home in their world, as most 
learned men in their mature years. He next turned with like 
eagerness to modern science and literature, to which he was led 
by an intimate acquaintance with Dante. He followed modem 
histoiy through all its details ; for him it reflected a light over the 



ON THE CHARACTER OE NIEBUHR, 535 

records of the past, and drew forth electric sparks from every peb- 
ble on the shore of antiquity ; nay more, it gave an early maturi- 
ty to his judgment, and he was not carried away by the intoxica- 
tion of the French Revolution, because he clearly comprehended 
the nature and conditions of freedom in ancient times, and the 
necessity of introducing it step by step, and not by sudden leaps. 
From his residence in England and Scotland, and Iris active par- 
ticipation in public business, sometimes of an important nature, 
he gained a practical view of affairs in which the merely learned 
historian so often fails. He was so fully engaged in official life, 
from his twenty-second or twenty-third year, to the year 1810, 
that he could scarcely devote more than his hours of relaxation 
to study. No leisure remained for researches with an extensive 
apparatus of learning, but he attained the same end, without fix- 
ed purpose, simply by applying his practical knowledge of cir- 
cumstances and affairs to history, and never resting until he was 
able to form as distinct and vivid a picture of those portions of 
history, which had most attracted his interest, as men in general 
retain only from the experience of the present. 

Had he kept to the ordinary track, had he combined the study 
of the original sources with an examination of the principal at- 
tempts to inspire them with fresh life, he might still indeed have 
found single facts confirming or modifying his representations, but 
he would scarcely have opened a new career to historical investi- 
gation. Other great scholars before him have treated of the*" 
history of Rome ; other adepts in political science have made it 
their study, and how warmly, how gratefully were the labors of 
Machiavelli, G-ronovius, Perizoirius, Montesquieu, and Gibbon ac- 
knowledged by Niebuhr ! His claim to be the pioneer of a new 
path hi science, rests upon the fact, that he threw broad flashes of 
light across the darkness that vailed the early history of Italy ; — 
that he espied a thread of truth in the tissue of fictions and em- 
bellishments, detected history in legends, and marked out the 
respective domains of the legendary and the historical ; — that 
from the scanty and unconnected details belonging to history, he 
was able to draw clear and correct outlines, by displaying their 
relation to each other ; finally, that by a close comparison of the 
results thus obtained with analogous conditions of society in peri- 
ods better known, he gradually filled up these outlines till they 
presented a picture that spoke to the heart and mind of his read- 
ers. And we may fairly say that the opening of this new path 



536 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

has been, and will be, productive of still greater results than even 
the important discoveries to which it conducted Niebuhr, and by 
which he proved its correctness. It is a path which can not be 
closed again to science, however many may be the stumbling- 
blocks it presents to those who attempt to pursue it with ill-trained 
powers, who set apparent, in the place of real possibilities guaran- 
teed by striking analogies — external resemblances in the place of 
internal relations, and mistake fortuitous conceptions for views 
founded on a consideration of facts. 

"We leave it to those better fitted for the task, to define the na- 
ture and value of Niebuhr's method of treating history, and its 
influence on the present state of historical research and opinion. 
As we confine ourselves within the limits of a biographical sketch, 
it is enough for us simply to bring into view whatever may tend 
to exhibit the peculiar features of his mind. 

A more comprehensive and trustworthy memory, or greater con- 
trol over it, can scarcely have been possessed by Joseph Scaliger, 
and other heroes of mnemonics ; it certainly was never combined 
in any instance with clearer powers of reflection. Niebuhr was eK 
close observer, and found some connecting link between all the 
manifold external and internal perceptions which came before 
him ; hence he mastered languages and sciences, signs and the 
thing signified, with equal ease, and with such certainty, that with 
his mind's eye he saw each in its own individuality, separate from 
its fellows, and yet intimately and variously related to them. No 
sufficient explanation of his memory is furnished either by the pre- 
tended laws of the association of ideas, or of the reproduction of 
representations, or by any logical dependence among the ideas 
themselves. 'It was equally retentive of perceptions and thoughts, 
of views and feelings, of sights and sounds ; whatever came within 
the sphere of his recognition took up its due relative position in his 
mind with equal certainty and precision. 

A great part of the Greek and Roman poetry had imprinted 
itself so indelibly on his memory, that he could frequently recite 
hundreds of verses without stumbling, and could answer on the 
spot every allusion or quotation from the Latin poets in the notes 
and letters of the younger Valckenaer, who was most deeply read 
in those authors ; even in his later years he retained every poem 
which appealed strongly to his heart, whether it were a modern 
Greek or Servian ode, or a song of Goethe, Count Platen, or others. 
In his later years, at least, we scarcely think that he ever learnt 



ON THE CHARACTER OF NIEBUHR. 537 

any thing by heart ; whenever a poetic thought which had vividly 
seized upon his mind was clothed in the form perfectly adapted to 
it, both the form and its inner spirit implanted themselves firmly 
within him, without the necessity of any mechanical assistance. 

When a youth, JNTiebuhr had made himself master of French, 
and, perhaps, still more completely, of English, and wrote and 
spoke both languages with great fluency and correctness. In his 
riper manhood, while the cares and occupations of the fatal years of 
war were undermining his health, he learned several of the princi- 
pal dialects of the Sclavonic languages ; in his fortieth year, he began 
to write and speak Italian, in which, up to this time, he had read 
nothing but historical works and poetry ; and, with a rapidity 
that put his younger companion to shame, he acquired no slight 
command of this language, at the very time when he was accus- 
toming himself to a new sphere of action, and devoting his leisure 
to antiquarian and historical researches. During his residence in 
Edinburgh he had occupied himself with the natural sciences, 
particularly chemistry, but had never afterward found time or 
opportunity to pursue these studies ; yet in subsequent years he 
was able to form the most distinct conception of out-of-the-way or 
complicated details, to the astonishment of men versed in the sub- 
ject. Hence he was strongly interested in the natural sciences of 
antiquity. The meteorology, natural history, &c, of Aristotle, the 
botany of Theophrastus, and the ancient writers on agriculture, 
were perfectly familiar to him. His memory was no less certain 
and comprehensive with regard to impressions of sight and num- 
bers. As referee of the consular business, at the Danish Board of 
Trade, he once gave a very detailed report, full of calculations, 
without the slightest hesitation, though, as his neighbor remarked, 
he had brought with him by mistake, instead of his notes, a paper 
which had nothing to do with the matter in hand. But even 
numbers did not imprint themselves on his memory mechanically, 
but because the facts expressed by them were never destitute of 
some point of connection with other facts, within the wide com- 
pass of his historical and practical sphere of vision. Thus, too, 
the statistics of the finances, at least of the more important States, 
were so present to his mind, that he not unfrequently predicted 
great alterations in the paper currency with an accuracy most sur- 
arising to financiers and the thinking men engaged in trade. 
z* 



ON THE CHARACTER- OF NIEBUHR AS AN HIS- 
TORIAN. 

FROM A LETTER BY PROFESSOR LOEBELL, OF BONN, 

AUTHOR OF A "UNIVERSAL ANCIENT HISTORY," ETC. 

You request me to furnish you with Niebuhr's char- 
acteristics, as an historian, within the compass of a few pages. 
This compels me to content myself with indicating some of the 
most important points, for the development and establishment of 
which, a small book would be necessary. 

"When great men step forth as the authors of a revolution in 
their peculiar department of science, and as the discoverers of new 
paths, on which others follow them, it generally is because they 
have been the first to recognize, in its true depth and significance, 
some want, vague indications of which have already betrayed 
themselves in the great tendencies of the age, and to supply which, 
they bring the eye and the gifts of genius. 

At the period when Niebuhr took up the idea of re-investigating 
and remodeling the history of Rome, certain movements and as- 
pirations had developed themselves in two provinces of intellectual 
activity, which could not fail to exert great influence on historio- 
graphy. These provinces were classical philology and politics ; 
that is, the internal civil life of a people. In classical philology, 
within the last ten years of the preceding century, there had grown 
up in Germany a new method of criticism, which for boldness, 
acuteness, and delicacy, was superior to all that had gone before 
it. This found its earliest manifestation, and one that excited the 
greatest attention, in the famous disquisitions of Wolf, concerning 
the origin and authors of the Homeric songs. In its wider and 
more general application, this method of criticism led to the con- 
viction, that even the authority of ancient testimony is not sufficient 
to determine the author and the date of a work, unless it coincides 
with internal signs and evidence. Whenever these principles were 
applied to history, it was inevitable that the criticism which lies 
at its foundation should take a new form. It was seen that the 



NIEBUHR AS AN HISTORIAN. 539 

use of any sources of history must be preceded "by researches into 
their genuineness, and not merely into the genuineness of those 
which we possess, but also into the genuineness of those which are 
lost to us, but from which authors still extant have drawn their 
statements. 

The other influence which helped to give a new form to his- 
toriography, proceeded from the great historical events of the age 
— the American and French revolutions. These revolutions first 
brought men to feel that, in the history of a State, the chief stress 
ought not to be laid on those things which had hitherto been al- 
most its sole topics — wars, treaties, internal disturbances and 
struggles, and the personal relations of princes — but on the growth 
of its form of government and constitution — on every tiring which 
serves to throw light on the relation of the whole people to the 
life of the State. How completely had this been neglected up to 
that time ! Even in your England, where the idea of free citizen- 
ship had long ago awakened to active and conscious life, a thinker 
like Hume could assign such topics their place in appendices which 
he entitled " Miscellaneous Transactions." How long was it ere 
a Hallam conceived the idea of a " Constitutional History !" And 
a profound and spirited description of the condition of a people, in 
relation to its political principles and endeavors, such as is pre- 
sented by the third chapter of Macaulay's admirable work, is the 
product of the present age alone. 

Permit me to draw your attention, however, to the fact, that in 
this field too, the Germans were the first to break the soil. Soon 
after the outbreak of the first French Revolution, Spittler, of Got- 
tingen, wrote a very clever and profound Hand-book of the History 
of the European States, in which their history is treated altogether 
with reference to their constitutional development, but which is, 
after all, a mere sketdi, a skeleton, which the lectures of the au- 
thor were to clothe with flesh and blood. 

Some other writers on history had also begun to assign to this 
most important subject, a more prominent place than it formerly 
occupied. Thus, to some extent, Niebuhr had predecessors hi this 
direction, when he placed the Roman constitution, and the strug- 
gles to which it gave rise, in the very foreground of his picture. 
But he had none in the application to history, of the method of 
criticism which had made such great advances in philology. And 
what is still more, he was the first to combine both tendencies, a 



540 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

combination for which he possessed endowments rarely found in 
any age. 

In his History of Rome, Niebuhr commenced the erection of 
an edifice, in the construction of which he would not employ the 
very smallest stone until he had carefully examined its fitness. 
Furnished with a comprehensive and profound acquaintance with 
the languages and literature of antiquity, he was fully qualified 
to apply the principles of the new tendency in philological criti- 
cism on a far wider scale, by the most acute examination and 
analysis of the original sources of history. "What had hitherto 
(with a few exceptions which attracted no attention) been termed 
historical criticism, consisted partly in a reckless skepticism, which 
rejected entirely the remains of whole periods — as Hume says, 
" The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commence- 
ment of real history" — partly in testing contradictory statements 
in the accounts of the narrators of isolated events, by their greater 
or less probability. Another step had been taken shortly before 
Niebuhr's time. Instead of credulously receiving, or absolutely 
rejecting the whole, an effort was made to pick out the kernel of 
historical truth, from the midst of the mythical elements with 
which it was mixed up in tradition. But Niebuhr did not stop 
here. He comprehended in the fullest extent the changes which 
the objective, positive, and actual historical truth must undergo, 
in its subjective transmission, and the influence of which per- 
petuated itself to after-ages. Hence arose the following questions, 
which the true method of criticism must answer, before deciding 
on the trustworthiness of the original sources : "What would such 
a century, according to its modes of thought, be able and desirous 
to hand down to posterity ? How has that which has been thus 
transmitted, been by later historians received, added to, or altered ? 
1 . According to some general conception of the earlier period which 
had become current in their day. 2. According to their greater 
or less ability to test what they have received. 3. Or according 
to their political party-spirit, which often throws its own coloring 
over men's views of the past ? These critical principles lead to 
the most fertile results. It follows from them, among other things, 
that narrations of events must be estimated, not merely by their- 
own intrinsic degree of credibility, but also by the whole position 
of the narrator ; a principle which had formerly been applied, 
only where the veracity, or want of veracity, in an author was 



NIEBUHR AS AN HISTORIAN. 541 

already generally acknowledged. Further, that some fragments 
of an account, accidentally preserved, and overlooked or rejected 
by later writers, may contain the truth in far greater purity, than 
a detailed narration which has come down to us in its integrity. 
To seize the true meaning, and supply the deficiencies of such a 
fragment — from which Niebuhr sometimes extracted the most 
astonishing results — certainly demanded his delicate appreciation 
of style, and his power of divination. In the way in which he 
sometimes brought some important relation to light from a few 
mutilated lines, he resembled such a naturalist as Cuvier, who 
from the fragments of a bone, determined the conformation of an 
extinct species of animals. 

But Niebuhr was no less pre-eminently qualified for the polit- 
ical part«of his task. He had early entered the invaluable school 
of public life, where he had acquired an unusually keen and 
penetrating eye for all political relations, and where many things 
came within the circle of his personal experience that can never 
be learned from books. He made himself acquainted with the 
most various spheres of action ; scarcely any thing which could 
be rendered instructive from any point of view, was without in- 
terest to his ever eager thirst for knowledge. Hence he was able 
to take a practical and technical view of subjects, which most 
learned men know only by name, or from superficial descriptions. 

Thus he made far higher demands than most on archseology, 
or a knowledge of the conditions and circumstances of the nations 
of antiquity. That bare acquaintance with particular usages or 
forms, unaccompanied by insight into their meaning, with which 
the merely book-learned content themselves, went for very little 
with him ; on the contrary, he strove to attain such a conception 
of ancient institutions, that their mutual dependence, their appli- 
cation, their practical working seemed to be preserved, in all their 
living activity, to his eyes. In accounts where his predecessors, 
who had made no such demands, had found no difficulties, no- 
thing problematic, he encountered chasms, difficulties, impossibil- 
ities. In the attempt to remove these, and to form to himself a 
consistent picture of the whole, he was often compelled to forsake 
established opinions, and to throw out new hypotheses, which he 
was enabled by the rich variety of his learning, the acuteness of 
his criticism, and his genius for combination, to suggest and main- 
tain. Criticism here showed itself as not merely negative, but 



542 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHE. 

as the stimulant and assistant to creative energy, while a vivid 
imagination helped the author to perfect his production. For 
imagination, if understood, not in the sense of an absolutely un- 
fettered invention, hut as the gift of restoring distinct outlines and 
coloring to dim and faded forms, is as essential to the historical 
inquirer as to the poet, who does not decorate the materials fur- 
nished by history at his own free-will, but colors the given out- 
lines, according to conditions involved in their very nature. 

The great and excellent qualities of Niebuhr's historiography 
grew from the same roots, which by a certain inward necessity- 
produced the defects which may be laid to its charge ; they are 
the inevitable shadow which accompanies, and exists only in vir- 
tue of, the dazzling light. If Niebuhr sometimes brought forward 
too daring hypotheses with the greatest confidence, it» was be- 
cause he was carried away by the extraordinary vividness of his 
conceptions ; if, at a later period, he nevertheless exchanged these 
opinions for others, it was but in consequence of his never- wearied 
enthusiasm and love of research ; if his narrative is often inter- 
rupted and disturbed by long disquisitions, the cause must be 
sought in the power and importance of the analytical and critical 
element, which according to Niebuhr's method, necessarily formed 
the chief basis of his History. And the same cause necessarily 
occasioned the inequality of his style and language. 

The writers who were incited through the influence of Niebuhr 
to new researches into the Roman history, occupy very different 
positions in relation to him. With some, reverence, admiration, 
and agreement preponderate. Among these is your fellow-coun- 
tryman, Dr. Arnold, who, had a longer life been granted him, 
would no doubt have been the most worthy to carry forward the 
immortal work. Others concede to Niebuhr only a certain por- 
tion of Iris results, and set up other views in opposition to the re- 
mainder ; others again controvert almost all his opinions. But 
all, with very rare exceptions, are standing on his ground ; they 
have appropriated to themselves his critical method, and are fight- 
ing a great author with weapons which they have borrowed from 
himself. I share the conviction of many very clear-sighted men, 
that the most important of Niebuhr's results with regard to the 
earliei portion of the history of Rome, will remain as an enduring 
possession to science. But supposing, even, that all the positive 
results of these researches proved untenable, it would still be a 



NIEBTTHR AS AN HISTORIAN. 543 

great and glorious victory that his very antagonists had been forced 
to adopt his method : this method alone would secure a high po- 
sition in all ages for Niebuhr's efforts in the development of 
science. 

Inquiries into other periods have also yielded fair fruits to men 
who have prosecuted them after his example, and following in his 
footsteps ; though many are unaware of the influence of this model 
on others, and even on themselves. For it is the highest victory 
of a new method, when it carries away with it a man of intellect 
without his becoming conscious whence the tendency which he is 
obeying is derived. No doubt, many would shake their heads 
over some of these assertions, and would say that the principles 
of criticism, which I have ascribed to Niebuhr, had long been ac- 
knowledged and applied. But this is a mistake ; they confound 
the presentiments and vague intimations of the right method, and 
an occasional application of it, with its full admission into science. 
It would be easy for me to prove this by a series of examples, did 
space permit. 

LOEBELL. 
Bonn, 3d of October, 1851. 



NIEBUHR AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME * 

BY THE CHEVALIER BUNSEN. 

To sketch a picture of Niebuhr's life in Italy, is a task as at- 
tractive as it is difficult to the friend in whose inmost soul this 
picture reposes like a jewel among the treasures of a happy and 
eventful past. Whether it can ever he attempted to present some- 
thing not quite unworthy of this picture and this past, must, like 
so many other things, be left to futurity and fate. That it can 
not be done now, is as certain as, that if it could be done, this is 
not the place for it. In the Introduction prefixed to this section 
of the letters, by the friendly hand that accompanied this great 
mind with faithfulness and affection through this changeful out- 
ward and inward life, a delineation has been given equally digni- 
fied and simple, which will suffice for a general understanding of 
his history during the embassy in Rome. Enough lies before us, 
in this collection of letters, which is perhaps the most valuable 
presented to the world, in this country or in any period : lastly, 
any one who has lived in the present age, which forms the setting 
to this remarkable and venerable picture, may know enough of it 
to enable him, with the assistance here afforded, to trace the out- 
lines without further aid, and from them to derive a fresh insight 
into, and a deeper knowledge of himself and his times. But it is 
beyond the province of any one section of his biography to fill up 
these outlines into a complete picture, to give an account of every 
single feature, of every accidental circumstance, of every apparent 
contradiction — to exhibit the facts in connection with each other, 
and with the present age. Niebuhr's intellect and inmost life 
were moulded at one cast, and the profoundest explanations of 
each portion He in the whole. But such a one is at present, in 
my opinion, quite impossible. Niebuhr's inmost life is more in- 
timately connected with the deepest movements, combinations, 
and struggles of suffering humanity in his own day, than that of 

* This Essay was written for the Lebensnachrichten, where it will be found, 
vol. iii. p. 303. 



NIEBTJHR AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 545 

any other great writer of his nation, or, I venture to say, of his 
age. He felt as a man, and sympathized with, ohserved, and 
thought for his fellow-men. "While hi so many memoirs, with 
which the present age is inundated and the future is intended to 
be deceived, the individual endeavors to represent himself to us as 
the centre of the events with which he was connected, a true bio- 
graphy of Niebuhr, on the contrary, would exhibit him as pro- 
foundly occupied with the universal weal and woe, finding solace 
and light upon the clear mountain-summits of antiquity, and erect- 
ing his rostra amid the noblest scenes of departed ages. It is a 
task imperative upon his future biographer to trace this influence 
in his writings as in his life. But just in so far as such a deline- 
ation would bring into prominence the great and significant feat- 
ures of his mind and life, it must be evident that, at the present 
time, it is impossible to proclaim that verdict upon human relations 
which they echo to the age just fled, and to the present, which 
will soon be numbered with it. Niebuhr took a position at once 
decided and modest, with regard to these times. While the an- 
tiquity which he described stood before his mind's eye like the 
present ; so the present, in which he lived, was to him history, 
and, hi all essential matters, he never surrendered himself to it in 
any other sense than the historian does to the past ages, on which 
he sits in judgment : loving it, but with the repressed sorrow of 
aspiration ; sympathizing with it, but not enjoying it ; combating 
folly and wickedness, but, for the most part, without any expecta- 
tion of benefiting those whom he judges ; with scarcely a hope 
of victory for himself and the friends and fellow-thinkers to whom 
he utters his prophetic cry : yet, with all this, always susceptible 
to every breath of life that blows upon him hi the sultry atmosphere 
of reality — thankful for every glance of hope that casts a passing 
radiance on his dark and weary path. From such visitations he 
gathers fresh life ; the former feeling constantly depresses and 
paralyzes him. The destiny of humanity, the welfare of his fa- 
ther-land, and the fate of its friends, these great points, without ex- 
ternally influencing his personal condition, affect him not less than 
the life of his own friends and the welfare of the dear ones to whom 
he has given his full heart of love ; and if he expresses himself 
less frequently and fully about the former than about the latter, 
or for long together suppresses all mention of them, his inward 
feeling for them is but the stronger and more oppressive. This is 



546 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

the key-note which vibrates through every part of Niebuhr's ma- 
ture life, and that began while he was a mere youth. 

To catch tin's tone from his own mouth, documents would have 
to be printed which it is to be hoped that our children will see ; 
nay, if we were but to follow its echo through the extracts from 
his correspondence now lying before us, it would be necessary to 
consider relations belonging to the present as well as the past, and 
to place under the focus of history those confused and fluctuating, 
erroneous and false representations of Iris contemporaries, which 
distressed Niebuhr, and against which he combated. Let him 
do this who can. Here we shall not even attempt to give a pic- 
ture of any part of that dark and mournful section of his life, com- 
prising seven years and a half, which was so highly unfavorable 
to his fertility as an historian, and , yet, in many respects, so im- 
portant to himself, to science, and the world. In this essay we 
shall only endeavor briefly to characterize Niebuhr as a diplomatist 
in Rome — his conduct in diplomatic life, and his views of the re- 
lations themselves which he was called upon to discuss and regu- 
late, so far as it appears necessary to an understanding and justi- 
fication of his letters. 

Niebuhr's views of the diplomacy and diplomatic life of our 
times, were by no means ideal. The prevalence of hollow phrases, 
instead of a diplomatic survey of each circumstance as it presents 
itself — the growing rarity of a knowledge of civil and international 
law, and their application in the intercourse of nations, with the 
spread of general, abstract modes of speech, open to the miscon- 
structions of caprice and the passions of the day — these fancied 
miraculous expedients of a great part of modern diplomacy, were 
not less repugnant to his inmost nature than were the inanity and 
tedium to which the social intercourse of the higher circle in most 
parts of Europe is condemned, sometimes by fancied notions of 
propriety, sometimes by irresistible attraction of mutual affinity. 
He used often to say, in jest, " The name diplomatist is a striking 
proof that the once favorite derivation of words from their contraries 
(as lucus a non lucendo) is not quite to be rejected ; for it is 
evident that the greater part of the diplomatists in our day are 
only called so because they do not know how to read a diploma 
{a non legendo diplomata)" 

The customary diplomatic mode of life he used to term fuga 
vacni, and to say of it what he had said in Ins youth of the great 



NIEBUHR AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 547 

parties at the otherwise so agreeable house of Iris amiable friend 
Count Schimmelman, and which any one who chooses may hear 
from his own lips. Idle talk upon matters of lofty import, and a 
dwelling with pleasure upon trifling topics, were equally abhor- 
rent to him. I shall never forget how Niebuhr spoke at a prince- 
ly table in Rome, during the bloody scenes in Greece, of Suli and 
the Suliots, and the future of the Christian Hellenes, in much the 
same terms as he has spoken to posterity in a passage of his Roman 
history, which breathes a noble indignation and a sense that the 
brand of infamy still cleaves to us. The prince, a mgh-minded, 
amiable, and intelligent man, listened, as did his guests, with at- 
tention and sympathy ; a serious mood seemed to come over the 
whole party. A pause occurred. One of the guests, a diplomatist 
of Mephistophelian aspect and species, took advantage of it to turn 
the conversation. One of the eternally repeated trifles of the day, 
a so-called piece of news that must be repeated to the prince, was 
skillfully used as a stepping-stone, and in ten minutes the whole 
table was alive with a dispute between the spokesman and another 
person who had contradicted him upon a most important point : 
— what "Aurora" signified in the slang of the Roman coffee- 
houses, whether a mixture of chocolate with coffee or not. Nie- 
buhr was silent. At last, with quiet earnestness and dignified 
mien, he spoke these words : — " "What heavy chastisements must 
be still in store for us, when, in such times, and with such events 
occurring around us, we can be entertained with such miserable 
trifles !" All were mute, and Niebuhr also ; a long pause ensued, 
and the mysteries of the Cafe Nuovo and the dwarf Bajocco were 
not mentioned again that day. 

" Those were, after all, different times," he would say, "when 
Hugo Grotius lived in the great world ; indeed we might be well 
pleased if intellectual conversations, like those described and hand- 
ed down to us from the times of Louis XIV. and his successors up 
to the French Revolution, were not banished from our diplomatic 
dinners as de mauvais ton. Who was ashamed then to speak of 
an important intellectual production as of an event ? — to express 
his enjoyment of literature, his interest in intellectual life ? The 
taste of that age was not indeed worth much, but it was at least 
a sign of life. There are, however, good and sufficient reasons 
for the phenomenon : much is owing to the alternation of political 
excitement and exhaustion, much to the endless divisions and di- 



548 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

versions of society and to the prominence of the politics of the day, 
and yet on this topic very few can go beyond the hollow phrases 
of our time, and no one will talk except in a tete-a-tete." The 
ostentation, the extravagance, and the ruinous habit of contracting 
debts necessarily involved in such a mode of life, were naturally 
not less intolerable to him. " Where will all this end," he often 
exclaimed, " but with the universal bankruptcy toward which 
Europe is tending in the first general crisis ?" " No diplomatist 
should lay by a penny of the salary which he receives in order 
to do honor to his country in his station, and to show hospitality 
to his countrymen," was another of sayings : " with most there is 
little danger of this ; but no one has a right to demand of him 
that he should spend his own property in addition, least of all for 
such objects." 

The sacrifices he entailed upon himself by such views — and 
views were with him inflexible principles and maxims of life, a 
confession — the annoyances that awaited him, the misconstructions, 
nay slanders, to which he exposed himself, were by no means un- 
known to him when he decided upon accepting the embassy to 
Rome. But he had probably not fully realized what an oppressive 
influence they would actually exercise upon him, a pressure like 
that of a sultry and unhealthy atmosphere. It must, however, be 
remembered that he had never reckoned upon remaining more 
than three or four years absent from Germany. A wide sphere 
of activity was not only in itself as much a necessity to his mind, 
as leisure for the investigation and representation of antiquity in 
a circle of beloved sympathizing friends or fellow- workers ; he had 
been used to it from his youth up, and even his most learned in- 
vestigations were based upon the contemplation of those public 
and social relations which are more or less perfectly expressed and 
mirrored in the circles of diplomatic life. I believe I may venture 
to say that no eminent practical statesman in Europe, whose name 
will be mentioned with honor after his death, ever left Niebuhr 
after a conversation upon either past or present political relations, 
without the highest respect for his intellect and heart ; in fact I 
have never heard the most distinguished of them speak of him 
but with admiration of his intellect and knowledge, and reverence 
for his exalted sentiments, however much they might differ from 
him in social habits or national views. This frank appreciation 
of Niebuhr by distinguished statesmen gave great pleasure, al- 



NIEBUHE, AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 549 

though it sometimes pained him to find himself better understood, 
and his views regarded with greater sympathy in England and 
France, than in Germany and among Germans. 

His motto, " Tecum habita" his own ill health, and still more 
that of his wife, together with his limited means, kept him from 
living in an expensive manner, and led him to take no larger a 
share in the diplomatic parties and festivities than was rendered 
necessary hy his position, or might be or appear conducive to the 
service of the King and the objects of his mission. And in this 
respect Niebuhr recognized the peculiar advantages afforded by 
Rome for his habits and views of life. What in other capitals 
and courts is a necessity (although not to the extent it is said to 
be), the joining in the social whirl that involves still more loss of 
time than money, and deadens the intellect still more than it 
wastes the time, is in Home of no political importance whatever. 
" What a blessing it is," he used to say in his merry moods, "that 
there are no court ladies here ; it is so difficult for me to discover 
one from another." He generally declined the invitations of for- 
eigners of distinction, because he could not return them ; this 
hindered him. from forming family connections, but not from in- 
tercourse with the distinguished men who sought his society. He 
never frequented entertainments among the Italians ; he was to a 
certain extent glad that that nation who bore so little resemblance 
to their great forefathers, had not the remotest suspicion that the 
historian of Rome and the greatest scholar of the age was living 
in the midst of them. He was much obliged to them for leaving 
him. in peace as a quiet " hlosofo," and contenting themselves with 
occasionally imparting instruction to him. In reference to the in- 
struction thus imparted in long calls and similar molestations, he 
used to say, " We do the Romans injustice when we say that not 
a true word comes out of their mouth ; they say at least one true 
thing in every call, namely their farewell formula, ' adesso le livrb 
Vincommodo? " 

During the first part of his stay he was ready to associate with 
the scholars of Rome, properly so called, in their own peculiar 
sphere, and it was enough for him to learn that Nibby (a young 
man alluded to in one of the foregoing letters, fxom Rome) was 
studying Greek for the sake of carrying on antiquarian researches, 
an unheard-of circumstance at that time among the professed an- 
tiquarians, to induce him to invite him frequently in the evenings, 



550 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

and encourage him in his labors. But even this connection with 
the learned men of influence was not of long continuance. How 
much sympathy and enthusiasm real Italian genius inspired in 
Niebuhr, and what a deep feeling he had for its peculiar greatness 
and elegance, was displayed most touchingly when he met with 
Count Giacomo Leopardi. I still remember the day when he entered 
with unwonted vivacity the office in which I was writing, and 
exclaimed, " I must drive out directly to seek out the greatest phi- 
lological genius of Italy that I have as yet heard of, and make his 
acquaintance. Just look at the man's critical remarks upon the 
Chronicles of Eusebius. What acuteness ! what real erudition ! 
I have never seen any thing like it before in this country. I must 
see the man." In two hours he came back. " I found him at 
last, with a great deal of trouble, in a garret of the Palazzi Mat- 
tel ; instead of a man of mature age, I found a youth of two or 
three and twenty, deformed, weakly, and who has never had a 
good teacher, but has fed his intellect upon the books of his grand- 
father in his father's house, at Eicanati ; has read the classics and 
the heathens ; is at the same time, as I hear, one of the first poets 
and writers of his nation, and is withal poor, neglected, and evi- 
dently depressed. One sees in him what genius this richly endowed 
nation possesses." Capei has given a pleasing and true descrip- 
tion of the astonishment experienced by both the great men at 
their first meeting ; of the tender affection with which Niebuhr 
regarded him, and all that he did for him. This and the subse- 
quent fate of this great and noble-minded man, who ended his 
joyless life in 1837, do not belong here ; but the trait we have 
mentioned is characteristic of Niebuhr' s social life in Rome, and 
important for the prevention of misunderstandings which might be 
occasioned by isolated passages in his letters. Especially charac- 
teristic, however, was his affection and concern for the Prussian 
and German disciples of art and science who were in Rome with 
him. He considered it as his duty, and an agreeable part of his 
vocation to render them assistance, to encourage and further them 
in their studies, and to devote to them the time of which he was 
so sparing toward men of mere show and fashion. To Niebuhr 
belongs the glory of having been the first to recognize the men 
who have founded the German historical school of painting ; which 
after philosophy, poetry, and philology, is of all the manifestations 
of the German mind of this epoch, the most important to the his- 



NIEBUHE, AS A DIPLOMATIST IN HOME. 551 

tory of humanity ; of having loved them ; of having encouraged 
them with a devoted friendship as modest as it was generous, and 
rendered them pecuniary assistance when necessary. They are 
now appreciated and admired both in their own country and 
abroad ; at that time they were the martyrs of an exalted and 
noble aspiration that had to fight its way through the wickedness 
not less than the shallowness of the times, and against which, the 
low and false taste of the leading connoisseurs and patrons of art 
of that day, had joined in a conspiracy with the licentiousness and 
incapacity of most of the artists. Niebuhr recognized in these 
associations of men like Cornelius, Overbeck, Philip Veit, and Wil- 
liam Schadow, aspirations which had hitherto given but few out- 
ward signs of their existence, a fresh impulse closely connected 
in essence with the other great movements of the nation — of that 
re-awakened and life-begetting genius of Germany, which had; 
formed Lessing, Kant, and Goethe — had prepared a new spiritual 
epoch of humanity by means of a profounder philosophy and a 
living historical science ; and finally, had animated the noblest 
minds, and through them the whole nation, with a self-sacrificing 
public spirit, and had led them, amidst national songs and hymns, 
with joy and faith, to battle and to death, for the cause of their 
king and their father-land. The remembrance of 1813 was still 
warm in every heart when JNTiebuhr came to Home, as it was in 
him to his last hour. The modern German art, the only one which 
deserves this name, came into being at the same time, after simi- 
lar mental struggles ; and though it arose in a foreign land, yet it 
was impressed with the spirit of the nation, and labored in its\ 
service. That this school alone had struck out the right path, and 
was pursuing the proper aim, could not but be recognized by him 
who had already so early perceived and admired in the great his- 
torical artists from Giotto to Raphael, the compeers of the ancient 
Hellenic schools of art — brethren in spirit of Dante and Goethe. 
In spite of the individual defects and incompleteness of the early 
works of this modern school, Niebuhr perceived in its founders 
and their productions, the vital principle which animated them in 
their opposition to the spirit of the age, and had confidence in that 
creative power which had united itself with clear insight and a 
determined will. To this faith he adhered with unshaken firm- 
ness, and on it he acted at a time when the germ from which he 
expected and announced a great and historically important devel- 



552 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

opment was wholly unknown or unappreciated in Germany, while 
in Rome it was despised, derided, and vituperated, as it would be 
even now in many parts of his own country, if men dared to give 
vent to their secret aversion. This recognition of a spiritual phe- 
nomenon in its first beginnings, is one of the numerous and most 
remarkable prophetic traits in Niebuhr's mind, and all the more 
striking, because of all spiritual phenomena, none lay further from 
him, judging from his peculiar cast of mind and the history of his 
life, than the arts of painting and sculpture. It is not only mer- 
itorious but worthy of fame in after ages, when the powerful ones 
of the earth protect and encourage the great and noble productions 
of science and art ; but it is a much rarer and more blessed thing 
— only given to the open eye of genius, and to the quiet and hum- 
bly-listening ear of a noble-minded man, to recognize greatness in 
its bitter root, in its harsh and repulsive husk, and to tend the 
future all-conquering genius with love and reverence, when his 
young pinions lie as yet folded in inactivity. When, further, such 
a faculty is found at an advanced period of life — in a state of 
mental depression, when the magic of youth has vanished, the 
bloom of life faded, the eye, to use a touching expression of Nie- 
buhr's, is filled with sand ; then such an enthusiasm as Niebuhr 
experienced and expressed, and unalterably retained for those 
efforts, becomes worthy of all reverence. Certainly, and very 
naturally, this enthusiasm took a personal character ; Niebuhr 
knew no other, because he believed in no spiritual power apart 
from personality, and looked upon all else as only its embryo, or 
husk, or scoria ; but Niebuhr did not love the art because he had 
a blind personal love for those who confessed and sought to estab- 
lish it ; he loved its disciples, because he recognized that which 
they adored, to be true art, living and putting forth proofs of its 
power in them. A personal prepossession might, perhaps, have 
been able to blind him for a time, but the delusion would soon 
have found its own punishment, and the undeserved favor have 
been changed into decided aversion. This distinction is abso- 
lutely necessary in order not to misunderstand Niebuhr : he hated 
what he considered as evil with conscientious vehemence, but he 
loved what he deemed worthy of love with passion, and what is 
rarely united with it, constancy. 

Such were Niebuhr's views of diplomatic life, and such was 
his own life as a diplomatist. Who could wish that he should 



NIEBUHH AS A DIPLOMATIST IN HOME. 553 

have applied differently the leisure that remained to him for 
social intercourse ? How many still bless him to whom he 
devoted this leisure in order to elevate their minds, to purify 
their hearts, to warn them against the perils of the age, to be a 
brother and a father to them in counsel and deed ? And who 
of the rest would now thank him for having invited them to 
balls and dinners ? JNTiebuhr, however, was extremely ready to 
show honor and hospitality to all his countrymen, according to 
his ability, when he was not repelled in the first instance by 
vulgar arrogance ; this was the case sometimes, and to tins refer { 
expressions such as those of the 7th of April, 1821 (p. 407) ; but! 
he never experienced any thing of the kind from foreigners. 
Once during the time he was in office he had occasion to give a 
great entertainment ; it was on the visit of the Chancellor of 
State, Prince Hardenberg, in 1821. Its object was, to make the 
Prince acquainted with the Roman nobility, and the rest of the 
high society in Rome, and at the same time to present his coun- 
trymen to him. Niebuhr could not bring himself to give a ball. 
Irwas, therefore, necessary to contrive a musical entertainment. 
Niebuhr abhorred the modern Italian operatic music. It seemed 
to him appropriate to have the music which is peculiar to Rome, 
and is unlike any thing else in the world, performed before the 
Chancellor ; this was all the more natural, as it is considered a 
part of bon ton throughout Europe, that every foreigner should 
have heard the celebrated singing in the Sistine Chapel during 
Passion week, although most of these hearers do not care the 
least about the matter in their hearts, but hate it as much as the 
modern composers despise it ; like Voltaire, who smiles supercil- 
iously at the Iliad. A few weeks before, he had had the same 
music performed for his former chef and warm friend, the noble 
Baron Stein (see p. 404), which had made a deep impression 
upon the two friends — who were both in general comparatively 
insensible to the influence of music — as well as upon the assem- 
bled company. The idea was, therefore, carried out on the pres- 
ent occasion, with augmented appliances. Prince Christian of 
Denmark, and his consort, honored the festival with their pres- 
ence. The conversation which preceded the music was very 
animated ; the arrangement and entertainment received applause. 
But when afterward, the gay assemblage repaired to the brilliant- 
ly lighted saloon of the palace, where the choir awaited them in 
Aa 



554 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

a gallery in the back-ground, and suddenly sixteen singers from 
the Chapel filled the apartment with the sublime strains of 
another world, the assembly was evidently seized with a peculiar 
feeling. Many grew quite uneasy when speech suddenly died on 
the lips ; jests and playfulness found no response ; some were 
positively driven out of the saloon and the house by the serious 
turn which the affair had taken, and all found in a different 
mood from that in which they had entered the room, or which 
they had anticipated. The satisfaction of the Prince and Prin- 
cess, and the joyful thanks of several fellow-countrymen and a 
few foreigners, rewarded Niebuhr for the ungrateful task of 
providing a more worthy entertainment for his guests than they 
were used to, and for the mortification of being reminded by the 
ill-humor of others of a certain scriptural lesson respecting pearls. 
Had Niebuhr wanted any further consolation, he would have 
been amply satisfied by the circumstance, that in the following 
year his King expressly requested that this music might be per- 
formed before him at the entertainment given him by Cardinal 
Gonsalvi, on which occasion the company was never weary of 
praising the music and the taste of the selector. 

In the foregoing letters Niebuhr briefly mentions having re- 
ceived the grand cross of the Leopold Order from the Emperor of 
Austria. The cause of this mark of distinction deserves to be 
more particularly mentioned. When the van of the imperial 
army had reached Rome by forced marches, and an instant 
attack on the passes of Antrodoro appeared to be the surest means 
of putting an immediate and bloodless end to the Neapolitan 
revolution, the military chests were found to be exhausted. Some 
hundred thousands of florins were absolutely necessary if opera- 
tions were to be carried on. The house of Torlonia, to whom 
application was made, declared themselves ready to advance the 
sum if Niebuhr would give bills for the amount on the Seehand- 
lung in Berlin. The imperial embassador laid the state of the 
case before him. Niebuhr recognized its urgency, and undertook 
the responsibility without hesitation ; nay, in order to obtain the 
full amount desired, he took up a considerable sum, on his own 
personal credit, from the Prussian consul-general Valentini. By 
this means the business was settled in a few days, and the pro- 
gress of the undertaking secured. The government at Berlin 
sanctioned the proceeding of their envoy, and the Emperor ex- 



NIEBUHK, AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 555 

pressed his gratitude by the above-mentioned mark of distinc- 
tion. 

But we must hasten to conclude our sketch of Niebuhr's di- 
plomatic life^jf we are not to exceed our intended limits. Before 
we proceed to the second part of these notices, we wish to say a 
few words about Niebuhr as a diplomatic man of business. Few 
men of so much genius have ever conducted business with such 
order. Niebuhr's conscientiousness affected in a higher sphere 
what in others is done by habit and outward rules. His business 
style was peculiar without being doctrinnaire ; his reports and 
notes will always appear, to us at least, a model of clear and 
business-like writing, unless we are to take the clumsiness of the 
usual German business style, and the hollow poverty of the ordi- 
nary diplomatic notes as our ideal. Those who only know Niebuhr's 
style from his writings, would be inclined to expect too great brev- 
ity, and a somewhat obscure conciseness, but quite erroneously. 
The statement is throughout flowing and easy, purely business- 
like and addressed to the practical statesman ; although as some 
one has naively remarked of his conversation, one must take 
care not to let one's attention be distracted. His political me- 
morials are unequaled models of statesman-like writing, even 
apart from their varied and weighty contents. Their straight- 
forwardness and frankness give a faithful representation of the 
manner in which Niebuhr constantly applied his rich treasures 
of knowledge, experience, and reflection to the requirements of 
the present, kept the universal war in view, and brought all 
that occurred to him in the progress of his own development to 
bear upon the welfare of his father-land. A time will come when 
the circumstances treated of in those reports and memorials will 
become a matter of history, and most of the contemporary diplo- 
matic papers will be left to moulder in oblivion. Not till then 
will it be really known what Niebuhr was. His written narra- 
tives and expositions were also a faithful picture of the manner in 
which he conducted verbal negotiations and deliberations. The 
greatest honesty appeared to him the highest wisdom, assuming 
that the negotiator is perfectly acquainted with his own wishes 
and claims, and as much so as possible with the aims and pow- 
ers of the other party. With this principle Niebuhr commenced 
his career in Rome, and never forsook it ; and, if we may judge 
from the results, never had cause to repent of his fidelity to it. 



556 MEMOIR OF NIEBTJHR. 

This naturally leads us*to the second point on which a few 
hints and explanations seem indispensably necessary ; namely, Nie- 
buhr's views respecting the negotiations with Home, and the rela- 
tions of Protestant governments in general to tha^papal chair. 
Even during his lifetime Niebuhr was censured and misunder- 
stood by some of his early friends, on account of his views on this 
subject; and it may be foreseen that now, when that point has 
become one of the vital questions of the day, nothing will be left 
untried, particularly by the opposite party, on the one hand, to 
bring him into opposition with himself, or with the government 
which he served with all the powers of his mind and soul ; and 
on the other to weaken, by calumnies, the testimony of the first 
historian of Europe respecting that of which he was a witness. 
Some might, for instance, attempt to infer from the expressions 
in the letter to Perthes of September, 1815, (p. 296), that he had 
submitted to become the organ and defender of a system of gov- 
ernment, with reference to the Romish Church, that in his con- 
science he disapproved. To obviate this and similar misconcep- 
tions, and to give a correct idea of Niebuhr's position in Rome, is 
the sole object of the following remarks, and will form a sufficient 
justification of him to every unprejudiced person. 

That letter to Perthes is certainly a most remarkable one. It 
is written in the period succeeding Amelia's death, in which Nie- 
buhr was living, as it were, in the presence of the loved departed 
one ; his heart was full of sorrowful affection, free from bitterness 
or violence, but also without hope or care for the concerns of this 
life. This state of mind often allows his prophetic gift with re- 
gard to his own future to appear with peculiar prominence, and 
those lines exhibit a very striking instance of it. But to under- 
stand rightly what he there says of the conflict with his convic- 
tions in which his official duties in Rome would place him, we 
should first look at the extremely important letter to Mrs. Hen- 
sler, of the 15th of October, 1815 (p. 299), which develops his 
ideas more clearly. Then, too, it must be remembered, that Nie- 
buhr had not at that time received his instructions, which were 
not sent to him till the summer of 1820, after he had been learn- 
ing the position of affairs in Rome, from personal observation, for 
nearly four years, and fully expressed Iris views in all respects to 
his government, and come to an understanding with them ; so 
that the dispatches which reached him at last may be said to 



NIEBUHR AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 557 

have been the result of this understanding. Much light is thrown 
upon these circumstances by the confidential expression of his 
wishes and counsels, with regard to some leading principles, con- 
tamed in the important and beautiful letter to Nicolovius of the 
22d of January, 1817 (p. 336). His expressions on the termina- 
tion of the negotiations are not less conclusive against such a sup- 
position, as may be seen by comparing the passage (March 28, 
1821), with the terms in which he speaks of what had been 
accomplished. See pp. 351 and 352, written in June and July 
of the same year. 

In order, however, to understand all such expressions as those 
here referred to, as fully as every reader would wish to do, espe- 
cially at the present moment, it is necessary to give a general 
outline of Niebuhr's position with regard to the views most prev- 
alent in Germany, which each can fill up afterward for himself. 
Niebuhr has stated his sentiments on this subject so often, and 
to so many by word of mouth, as well as in writing, that it is 
scarcely necessary expressly to remark, that what is here said 
flows from no source which might be considered as belonging to 
official secrets, though its amplification would have to be sought 
in Niebuhr's dispatches and memorials. 

Niebuhr found two views prevailing at that time among writ- 
ers as well as public men respecting the relation of the state to 
the Roman Catholic Church, neither of which satisfied him, but 
on the contrary were offensive to him as a philosopher, an histo- 
rian, and a statesman, inasmuch as they appeared to him to 
have proceeded from the decomposition of the vital elements of 
the Church and State, and to be a consequence of the decline of 
sound views and doctrines, respecting them. I will here only 
briefly mention, merely for the sake of those who do not know or 
do not understand his great historical work — and such it must 
be confessed form the majority, especially in Germany — that Nie- 
buhr possessed a well-digested view of the State, which had be- 
come a living picture in his mind, and by which his scattered 
expressions respecting history and public affairs, as well as his 
whole political life, are to be interpreted. It was this idea of the 
State, which was a philosophical, no less than an historical and 
practical one, although he had not wrought it out into a well- 
founded and complete system, which he as a youth opposed with 
healthy aversion to the negative and destructive doctrines and 



558 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

opinions which prevailed at that time, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, in society and the literary world, and to the wide- 
spread jacobinism which he utterly abhorred. It was essentially 
the same view which he as a statesman and philosopher, in the 
full feeling of his superiority, opposed, now with a smile of pity, 
now with indignant rebuke, to the shallow, one-sided, stubborn 
attempts to restore political science by means of the crude nega- 
tions of jacobinism, or a few elementary, abstract, pliant propo- 
sitions. Now, among the views respecting the relative position 
of the civil and ecclesiastical powers, with which he came in con- 
tact, that one was especially repugnant to him which teaches 
that the highest wisdom of a government consists in exercising a 
sort of minute and centralized police surveillance, and adminis- 
trative control over the Roman Catholic Church. Niebuhr was 
firmly convinced of the contrary, and often expressed this in very 
strong terms, unconcerned, as it became such a man, respecting 
the laughable misconceptions, and even the malicious construc- 
tions, to which it exposed him. The limitation of this oversight 
of the Roman Catholic Church to the preservation of the inde- 
pendence of the State, and the evidently indispensable protection 
of the government against an unlimited ecclesiastical power, ex- 
ternal to the national life and the commonwealth, this, which 
appeared to him the leading fundamental idea of the existing 
laws, and the object to be aimed at in practice, seemed to others 
a treason against the principles of the Prussian Code, and an 
abandonment of the ideal of monarchy. But Niebuhr was 
neither to be disconcerted by the appeal to the so-called "good 
principles," which the passions of men have in every age made 
their watch-word, nor yet by the bugbear of the Prussian code. 
He knew that many general phrases and expressions, which had 
crept into the code from the one-sided, often quite untenable doc- 
trinary views of the day, had through the force of circumstances, 
and the justice and mildness of the government, become a dead 
letter, which a practical statesman was bound to leave, like so 
much else, unrevived, inasmuch as a dead letter is always infin- 
itely better than one " that killeth." But Niebuhr did not con- 
ceal from himself that the practical influence of these hostile 
views might greatly paralyze and interfere with his discharge 
of the duties of his office, and to this the words in the letter to 
Perthes are to be referred : " The embassador is merely the in- 



NIEBUHR AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 559 

strument of carrying out the orders which he receives, and how 
little these orders are likely to be in accordance with my convic- 
tions, I can already foresee." The letters referred to above show, 
that while his convictions underwent no alteration, his apprehen- 
sions were not justified by the event. Among others the well- 
known fact may be referred to, that upon his proposal made 
from E.ome,*i;he government immediately consented to the direct 
transmission of the Roman Catholic requests for dispensations of 
marriage from the bishops to the embassy charged with their 
presentation and advocacy, and to the immediate transmission 
of the papal rescripts to the bishops — a measure which produced 
a most desirable simplification of nine-tenths of the current busi- 
ness between Prussia and Rome. 

But there was yet another view at this time, from which Niebuhr 
very distinctly dissented throughout the whole course of his mis- 
sion. It was this, that the government ought to favor the .wishes 
expressed for an internal remodeling of the Roman Catholic Church 
in Germany, abstain from all negotiation in Rome, or even declare 
itself the organ of those views to the Papal court, and carry them 
into execution. Niebuhr did all to the' individuals of this party 
who were really in earnest about the main point — the religious 
and moral elevation of their church — and did not simply desire to 
carry out the impracticable theory of a German Hand-book of 
Canonical Law, in opposition to the Pope, or to set up for popes 
themselves. But as a philosopher and historian he held their aims 
impossible of attainment, and as a statesman, the highest wisdom, 
as well as justice seemed to him to demand that a Protestant 
government should, of all others, be the last to enter on such a 
couise. On this point also Niebuhr had every reason to be fully 
satisfied with the part he had taken. 

Niebuhr' s own view was based entirely on the three leading 
traits of his character — conscientious piety, incorruptible integrity, 
and burning patriotism. His reverence for the views of Chris- 
tianity which friends and pious men such as Stolberg and Fenelon 
held sacred, made him regard a tender and reverent handling of 
every thing connected with these views as an imperative duty in 
the case of individuals as well as that of nations. I remember his 

fLce saying to me, in reference to this, " How much easier to 
yself, I could make my position in Rome, and how much more 
satisfaction could I give in various quarters, nay, even reap ap- 



560 MEMOIR OF NIEBUHR. 

plause, if I were but an atheist !" A deep text suggesting many 
reflections. The respect for the rights of others, which was with 
Niebuhr a second nature, never allowed him to forget the duties 
which a Christian government had taken upon itself with refer- 
ence to the Roman Catholic population by the very rights which 
she claimed with regard to their church. Finally, his love for 
his German father-land, both in the narrower and wider sense of 
the term, strengthened these sentiments. Niebuhr saw in the 
" truce of God," between the members of the two confessions — 
whom a calamitous war on the plains and mountains of their 
primitive home had left as rival bodies, and yet spiritually and 
by affinity one nation — the only guarantee for the unity of the 
Germans, and consequently for the preservation of their freedom 
and independence. On this ground he wished to avert every 
thing that might disturb that peace, and call up the lurking de- 
mons. What he said in his famous address to his beloved hearers 
in 1830, on this point, flowed from a loving heart, oppressed, nay 
sometimes uncontrollably agitated by the vehemence of its emo- 
tions, which never belied itself in this or any other portion of his 
life. No statesman of any age or nation who has a heart in his 
bosom, and feels the sorrows of humanity and the heavy burdens 
of the past and present, can see without emotion how strong a 
sympathy and interest Niebuhr felt as a fellow-countryman and 
Christian, in all that he recognized as the real wants and essen- 
tial rights of his fellow-citizens of the Roman Catholic Church, 
from the poverty of the parish priest on the Rhine, to the elective 
rights of the German cathedral chapters, nor fail to remark the 
contrast this spirit presented to Napoleon's niggardly spirit, and 
the right which he claimed to the arbitrary nomination of the 
bishops, as it exists in nearly all Roman Catholic countries. 

In Niebuhr' s opinion, the government was bound to provide 
for the institutions necessary to the existence and efficiency of that 
Church in the land. With respect to public instruction he con- 
sidered it indispensable that it should bear a character of nation- 
ality, combined with a due consideration of the religious and 
ecclesiastical wants ; and regarded every admixture of a foreign 
exclusive and separate influence on the great educational institu- 
tions of modern times, as pernicious ; while on the other hand, 1^ 
deemed the ecclesiastical character of the episcopal seminaries iot 
the conclusion of the clerical education, judicious and wholesome. 



NIEBUHR AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 561 

But with respect also to strictly spiritual relations, he held that 
the government, guided by the principles we have indicated, 
ought, in the first instance, to take counsel with their own con- 
sciences and their Roman Catholic clergy and statesmen, and 
then to establish whatever their paternal solicitude might point 
out to them as their duty. 

Further, Mebuhr believed that negotiations with the Roman 
court were the surest and most natural means of attaining these 
noble and desirable ends, and of laying the foundation of more 
flourishing conditions of the Church. The conclusion of a con- 
cordat he had considered from the first as an altogether inad- 
missible idea, because he knew that in the present position of a 
fully organized European state to the Romish ecclesiastical poAver, 
no concordat whatever can be concluded with honesty, even apart 
from the peculiar case of Protestant governments. With his prin- 
ciples, and his character as a Roman historian and a German 
statesman, had he not brought this conviction with him to Rome, 
it would have been forced upon him by the .negotiations and pro- 
ceedings of which he was a witness and judge dimng his residence 
there. The statements of his views on these subjects will one day 
prove a mine of gold to the reflecting statesman, and the historian 
conversant with public life. 

In Nieouhr's opinion, the negotiations with Rome ought to have 
no other object than to give solemnity to the establishment of the 
resolutions that should be adopted after mature deliberation, as 
the result of an open and sincere understanding respecting the in- 
dividual practical points, the canonical forms, and the modern 
development of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. Both 
parties he considered must seek a basis for their friendly relations, 
not afforded by their conflicting principles, in the common inter- 
est felt in the object of their cares, and the practical importance 
of the points concerned in their deliberations ; further, in the still 
greater importance of the fact of an honest understanding between 
them being possible. He believed that such an understanding 
would be a benefit to both Church and State, and a security to 
universal peace, beneath whose fostering wings the life of Euro- 
pean nations might attain its full development. In all these, to 
him, fundamentally important views, Niebuhr had the satisfac- 
tion of finding the fullest concurence on the part of the Prussian 
government during his negotiations. If he was deceived — if it 



562 MEMOIR, OF NIEBUHR. 

was an error to suppose that a Protestant government, conscien- 
tiously acting with a view to the highest welfare of its subjects, 
might carry its enlightened views with regard to the Roman 
Catholics, into effect by means of an understanding with Rome — 
if in spite of these pure intentions, malignant agitation and priestly 
pretensions now threaten with fresh storms, the repose of Germany 
and of the world, which it was hoped would be secured by these 
relations — Niebuhr' s ashes may still be suffered to rest in peace. 
He shared this error, if such it was, with the noblest minds of his 
nation, and he and they will, perhaps, be all the dearer to pos- 
terity for the sake of this very error. Trust and patience are 
never thrown away, especially in the case of a powerful govern- 
ment ; and extended historical experience can never be bought too 
dearly by those who remain true to themselves. 

Further, it must be'said, that in the views w r e have portrayed, 
Niebuhr thought as a practical statesman, who takes reality as he 
finds it. 

He said once to a very distinguished English statesman, still 
living, who had consulted him while in Rome with reference to 
similar relations with the court of Rome, " Do every thing in your 
power for the benefit of your Catholics ; give their clergy salaries, 
and have them well educated at home, but never keep an em- 
bassador in Rome." 

That he did not conceal from himself the perils of the future ; 
that he well knew how much of the then peaceable intentions of 
Rome was owing to the personal character of the pious Pope, and 
his excellent cabinet, and the instructive discipline of a period of 
tribulation, is sufficiently proved by his expressions in his letter to 
Madame Hensler, of the 4th May, 1822. 

I can not conclude these lines, written in England, without ex- 
pressing the pleasure I have derived from the appreciation and 
high esteem with which my ever revered master and fatherly 
friend is here regarded by statesmen and scholars — and*especially 
from the pure enthusiasm with which he has inspired the most 
earnest and noble portion of the youth of this country. His in- 
fluence, which is apparent to every observer, is not adequately 
represented even by the fact that a much larger number of copies 
of the English translation of his Roman History have been sold 
than of the German original, though many of the latter have also 
found their way to England. Niebuhr' s incomparable superiority 



NIEBUHH AS A DIPLOMATIST IN ROME. 563 

to all the critics of modern times — the deep truth of his historical 
views and political maxims — the pregnant solidity of his earnest 
earnest and dignified, if not easy style — the elevation of Iris moral 
views of the world — all this had long been acknowledged, in the 
homage paid to the Roman historian by the most distinguished 
men of every party in Church and State. But the pure human 
greatness of his noble heart — his unspotted life — his unwavering 
courage amid ill-health and disappointed or overclouded hopes — 
the devoted love of such a mind — the elevating and childlike faith 
in the divinity of virtue and truth — the union of qualities and 
capacities of heart and intellect so rarely seen in combination — 
in a word, the image presented in the letters before us, has raised 
that esteem to personal attachment, and the seeds of knowledge 
and virtue so richly scattered through them have fallen on a good 
and fruitful soil. 

Well may we Germans term this joy a sorrowful one, when we 
turn our eyes to the disgraceful efforts of little-minded men, who, 
humbled beneath the grave and piercing glance of genius, have 
fallen a prey to their mean passions, and conspired with the disci- 
ples of impiety and the apostles of every thing un-German, to 
spy out the weak points of a great man with malicious joy, and 
use them with Mephistophelian address for their own ends ; but 
it is so ordained that meanness and wickedness must hate noble- 
ness and greatness, and Niebuhr's chief failing — that of yielding 
, in such cases to immoderate vexation, shall not be imitated by 
his friends. 

London, 28tk February, 1839. 



H * I8*89(j| 



.-*T ..si.* .. ^ .0* . . MS * *o. A * v .•••.* 



Ay o**"'** "PU 




"ov* * 



c° v .*- 







47 




."'I 



V^ % ^ 













.c°V;J&.*.% >*\.:&^A ,0^.^.-0 











;* ** v % : .iir. ; ^ v 



.* «P ^ \^SVV ** "%> *. 

• *\ 'iBk ° 4* *^** \ 

Ifc w .-iters, v ,/ 4W-. •>* .*♦ y 






3,0*7% »i 



If 1 






~ r ... \ *°-* - ^ * ^^\cf +** 




' *°* \> 



♦vr^' A o° ^ *^Tt;^* 



4V ><• •■• AT ^ 



.: V** -^ "^^ /-« ♦* •* 



,^^\ l 



v^ 1 











A * v ^ '. 






• A>^ - ' 












r. ^d« 






fc ^ 


















If* «5 













*0« 






^ *••« 









• ' * <? ^ • • ° A U <** *#/!» AT 'A 



«T- ^o ^ 



^ ^oV .^§1^ *bv* 



^o. 



HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. |S| 

^ DEC 89 



/^P^ 
w 



N. MANCHESTER, 
5S^ INDIANA 46962 



* T 



















